According to the Turkish Ministry of Finance, a budget deficit of TL 172.7 billion was reported for 2020. In 2021, the figure rose to TL 192.2 billion, and in 2022 the budget deficit was TL 139 billion.

Erdoğan's economic preferences

Sezai Temelli, a member of parliament from the Green Left Party, spoke to ANF about the Turkish economy. The politician, an economist with a PhD, pointed out that the economic picture has been shaped according to Erdoğan's preferences and that these preferences are based on the re-appropriation of fascism. "The economic management has really presented us with a disaster scenario until today. Above all, because the economic policies of the last five years were shaped on the basis of fascism, they were the cause of the economic problems we are experiencing today. In other words, today's economic problems are directly related to the political decisions taken beyond the problems arising from the internal structure of the economy. If we look at this process, Erdoğan's policy preferences and the path he has taken have brought the economy to this point," said the Turkish politician, who served as co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the near past.

War economy and corruption

Temelli further stated: "Yes, some developments in the world, the pandemic and the global crisis have, of course, had an impact, but not enough to explain the situation we are in today. Because if you look at other countries and the world, there is no other country that is experiencing such a deep crisis as Turkey. If you look at the misery index, Turkey is in tenth place. There are countries like Sudan that are ahead of it. This shows us how far poverty and economic collapse have gone. One of the main reasons for this is the institutionalisation of fascism. In order to sustain it, people have relied on the war economy. In addition, corruption has reached unbelievable levels. Turkey ranks among the top five in the world in studies on corruption. And of course, unjust enrichment and haphazard use of the country's resources also play an important role in this ranking."

Continuous budget deficit for five years

When asked how sustainable this economic policy is, Temelli replied: "It can only be sustained by wasting all resources. After all, the budget shows how resources are used. The budgets of the last five years have been consistently prepared in such a way as to maintain such an understanding of the economy. Such an understanding of the budget naturally has the characteristic of deepening the economic crisis instead of preventing it. The budget deficit and how it is managed is an important yardstick. In recent times, Turkey has had a constant budget deficit and it has been increasing. This year, there will be a huge budget deficit. The deficit for 2023 will be even higher than in 2022.”

Temelli continued: “How the budget deficit is financed is also important. The budget deficit is financed through inflationary policies. The government tries to cover the budget deficit to a certain extent by collecting from the citizens the taxes it cannot collect from the rich by raising taxes. On the other hand, by printing money through the central bank, it fuels inflation and tries to close the deficit in the treasury. When all this overlaps, both deficit economic policy and this kind of financing fuel the crisis on the one hand and deepen poverty on the other. But of course, the economy does not only have a budget deficit problem. Besides the budget deficit, there is a foreign trade deficit, a current account deficit and a savings deficit. So, it is a multiple deficit and an economy that is under pressure from this deficit. In such a situation, the economy must be disciplined in a very serious way. If disciplining the economy is still an option at the expense of the workers and the people in a situation where poverty is so great and the workers are exploited to such an extent, it means destruction and an unbearable life for the people of the country.”

Temelli added: “As far as we know, there is no prospect of a successful economic policy. In particular, the promises and economic measures during the election campaign have made the situation even more difficult. There seems to be no way out of this situation. There is no political will to do so. Because the continuation of the political line that aims to institutionalise fascism will be with us in the coming period."

Mehmet Şimşek's priority is the financial markets

Sezai Temelli believes that an economy led by Mehmet Şimşek to relieve the financial markets will not bring anything to the people and the workers: "Mehmet Şimşek is an advocate of neoliberal policies. Mehmet Şimşek's priority will be the financial markets. It is about gaining the confidence of the financial markets and opening new loans, new debts, new castles in the air. Does Şimşek know anything about the economy? Of course, he does, but in terms of capital. The answer to the question of how much he knows about the economy in relation to society, in relation to solving the problems we are experiencing, is evident from his practice in the past.”

Temelli concluded: “Mehmet Şimşek and the team of that time have an understanding that the most important pillars that might keep the economy afloat and fight the crisis have been uprooted and put at risk by privatisation and debt policies. Şimşek is one of the most important representatives of the neoliberal market economy. You cannot solve the prevailing crisis with such a mentality. But when it comes to remarketing Turkey, starting a new wave of privatisation, opening new credit taps, this is a message to certain capital groups who want to fix the economy: 'Look, we are determined'. Even if they bring ten Mehmet Simseks, there seems to be no way out of the economic crisis and this economic collapse we are being dragged into."