There are many banks in this country where you can deposit money safely.
But there is a small problem.
People no longer have money to invest.
Turkey's economic order has evolved to a strange point in recent years. Banks were once seen as institutions that financed production. They lent to industry, expanded trade and fed the economy.
Today, a significant part of the banking system is busy doing something else:
Generating debt.
When the engine of the economy shifted from production to credit-dependent consumption, banks naturally became the center of this order.
The fundamental question of the economic system now is this:
“It's not ”how do we produce?".
“How do we lend money?”
This transformation is not unique to Turkey. The last four decades of modern capitalism have gone down in history as a period in which finance grew more than production. While factories shrunk, the financial sector grew. Credit volumes expanded while the real economy slowed down.
But in Turkey, this transformation was much more drastic.
Because the credit system in Turkey has not only become a tool for economic growth. It has also become the main source of economic fragility.
Banks or Modern Usury?
The credit system is one of the indispensable tools of the modern economy.
But at some point the credit system stops supporting production and turns into a debt trap.
This is the picture that is gradually emerging in Turkey.
Credit cards, personal loans, consumer loans...
Each was initially presented as tools to make life easier.
But for millions of people today, credit is no longer a convenience.
An addiction.
More precisely, an economic spiral.
One loan begets another.
One debt covers another debt.
And at some point this process confronts people with this reality:
Debt is no longer a temporary tool, but a permanent way of life.
The Truth in Numbers
To understand the true extent of the debt economy, we need to look at the numbers.
In Turkey today, there are approximately 42 million people owe banks loans or credit cards.
This means this:
Almost one in two adults in Turkey lives in debt to the financial system.
Credit card debts have increased dramatically in recent years.
Individual credit card debt in Turkey It reached 2.6 trillion liras.
Total personal loans and credit card debt 5.8 trillion liras.
The distribution of this debt is striking.
While housing loans remained relatively limited, the fastest growing area personal loans and credit cards.
This reveals a very important fact:
Debt in Turkey is largely not for investment, to cover living expenses.
In other words:
The credit system in Turkey is no longer productive, finances everyday life.
Debt and Fragility
As debt grows, so does vulnerability.
Today, in Turkey, there are many people who are unable to pay their debts. More than 1 million people have been subjected to legal proceedings.
Total number of non-performing loans It is approaching 4 million.
A significant number of these people are not big investors.
They are:
minimum wage earners
pensioners
small shopkeepers
and ordinary citizens struggling to survive on debt.
This is where the harshest side of the debt economy emerges.
Debt is not only an economic relationship.
Debt is also a is a relationship of power.
A man in debt is not free.
People in debt cannot take risks.
A debtor cannot object.
A person in debt only tries to pay his debt.
This is precisely where the most invisible power of the modern financial system lies.
Not people with guns, managing in installments.
Rise of the Banks
While citizens' debt is growing, the banking sector is experiencing one of the highest profit periods in its history.
In the early 2000s, the total annual profit of the banking sector was only a few billion liras.
Today, the annual profits of banks have reached hundreds of billions of liras.
In 2021, the total profit of the banking sector was approximately 92 billion lira It happened.
In 2022, this figure will be about 430 billion liras Output.
In 2023, the total profit of banks will be approximately 600 billion liras.
This growth does not only indicate that banks are well managed.
It also shows another truth:
As the debt economy grows, so does the financial sector.
Because the credit system is actually based on a simple logic.
One side incurs debt.
The other side wins.
And the bigger the debt, the bigger the profit.
The Great Transformation
In modern economies, the financial sector was designed to be the servant of production.
But today in many countries the roles have changed.
Production is now becoming the servant of finance.
Companies take loans to roll over debt, not to invest.
Citizens are borrowing not for prosperity but for survival.
That is why the language of economics has changed.
Once upon a time, the most important concepts in economics were:
production
efficiency
industry
Technology
Today, the most talked about concepts are the following:
Credit
interest
debt
installment
When the vocabulary of a society changes, it means that the economic structure of that society has also changed.
Turkey is in exactly such a period today.
Not from a production society.
One debt society we are talking about.
The Morality of Debt and the Silence of the State
Debt Economy
The most dangerous aspect of the debt economy is this:
Debt controls not only money but also human life.
The borrower is no longer merely an economic subject.
He is also the most fragile link in the system.
Because debt makes you desperate.
Despair makes people vulnerable to all kinds of exploitation.
Today, news of people committing suicide because of credit card debt has become commonplace.
But the truth behind this news is often not talked about.
That truth is this:
The modern financial system can sometimes become more valuable than human life.
This is not unique to Turkey. As the financial system has become increasingly powerful in the modern world, large parts of societies have become accustomed to living in debt.
A loan to buy a house.
Debt for education.
Debt for health.
Debt for everyday life.
Debt was thus transformed from an economic instrument into a social way of life.
But the most vulnerable have always paid the heaviest price for this transformation.
Because risk is not evenly distributed in a debt system.
For the rich, debt is an investment instrument.
For the poor, debt is a means of survival.
And debt for survival is often the most expensive debt of all.
Disaster if Banks Fail, News if People Die
In times of economic crisis, governments often step in to bail out banks.
There is a logic to this.
If the banking system collapses, so does the economy.
But here an important moral question arises.
For whom does the state exist?
For the banks?
For the citizens?
Today, as in many countries, the following strange situation has emerged in Turkey:
If a bank fails, it is called a “system crisis”.
But if a person dies because of debt, it is only news.
The system is unshakeable.
Financial markets do not panic.
No economic program sees this as an immediate crisis.
At this point, we should ask the following question:
In an economy, is the life of banks more valuable or the lives of people?
This question is not only economic.
This question is also It is about civilization.
Which institutions a society protects shows which values that society prioritizes.
If a society saves its banks faster than its people, then its economic system is no longer a technical system.
He's now a is the order of power.
The Social Destruction of Debt
Debt is not only an economic issue.
Debt is also a mechanism of social destruction.
Families fall apart.
Psychological problems increase.
Social trust is damaged.
A person under debt pressure is not only impoverished.
At the same time he becomes lonely.
Because debt produces a sense of shame.
People in debt often cannot share their problems with anyone.
The system is ruthless at this point.
Debt collection works like an algorithm.
There are no emotions.
There are no human stories.
There are only numbers.
Today, millions of people in Turkey are taking out new loans to pay off their credit card debts.
One debt to pay off another debt.
At first glance, this cycle appears to be a matter of technical finance.
But in fact this cycle also changes the social psychology.
Societies in debt are quieter.
Societies with debts are more cautious.
Societies in debt object less.
Because debt is not only an economic burden.
Debt is also is a disciplinary mechanism.
A Dark Possibility
It may sound dystopian today, but it is not difficult to see where some developments could lead.
As the debt economy grows, so do collection mechanisms.
Companies start using every method to recover their receivables.
At this point a dark possibility emerges.
It would not be surprising if one day tomorrow some collection networks intersect not only with financial companies but also with the criminal economy.
Just as drug dealers selling drugs in front of secondary schools today work in an organized manner, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that some dark collection networks will emerge tomorrow with similar methods.
Maybe not under a bank sign.
But in the shadow of the financial system.
A system where debts are collected.
A system where money is saved but people are lost.
Big Problem Silence
The most dangerous aspect of the debt crisis is that it is often invisible.
Because debts are silent.
The closure of a factory makes headlines.
But for millions of people, credit card debt is an invisible crisis.
So society often does not realize the magnitude of the problem.
Until one day I was faced with the following reality:
Debt is no longer an individual problem but a social problem.
The Way Out: Is a People-Centered Economy Possible?
The True Mission of the State
What is the raison d'être of the state?
The answer to this question is simple:
The state exists to protect its citizens.
The task of the economic system should be to make people prosperous, not to drive them into debt.
Banks are instruments of the economy.
But human life is the purpose of economics.
When this balance is reversed, what emerges is no longer the economy.
What emerges is financial domination.
This is precisely the fundamental problem of economic policy in many countries today.
The economy has started to work for the financial system, not for the people.
But history teaches us something else.
Economic systems are sustainable as long as they serve societies.
But when societies become the servants of economic systems, crisis is inevitable.
The debt economy produces precisely such a crisis.
So it is not just about credit card limits or interest rates.
It's about the economy who it serves.
The Question of Financial Domination
Financial domination is not a simple concept.
This concept means the following:
The financial system has become a power over society.
As the debt system grows, the influence of financial institutions increases.
Government policies focus on protecting credit markets.
Central banks try to maintain financial stability.
But in the meantime, most of society continues to live in debt.
That is why debt crises are often not economic, political crises becomes.
History is full of examples of this.
Great Depression of 1929
2008 global financial crisis
Latin American debt crises
They have all shown the same truth:
When the financial system gets out of control, the rest of society pays a heavy price.
It is time for a similar debate in Turkey today.
The economy is not just about growth figures.
The economy is also society's quality of life.
In Search of a Solution
Debt crises are not insoluble.
But new loan packages are not the only solution.
Giving a new loan often increases the old debt.
The real solution must be more structural.
For this, several basic policies can be discussed.
1. Citizen Debt Restructuring
The model applied in many countries is as follows:
Large-scale restructuring programs are implemented for over-indebted individuals.
Interest rates are lowered.
The maturity is extended.
In some cases, part of the debt is written off.
It's not about the banks, to stabilize society.
Because the longer debt crises last, the weaker the economy becomes.
2. Crisis Tax on Bank Profits
The fact that banks are posting record profits amid debt crises is a matter of serious debate.
This is why there is a method applied in some countries:
crisis tax
In this system, a portion of the extraordinary profits of the financial sector is channeled into social support programs.
The objective is simple.
The profits of the financial system should not be disconnected from society.
3. Social Banking Model
In many European countries, public banks do not operate solely for commercial profit.
It also has social finance tasks.
Low-interest loans for low-income citizens
support loans for small businesses
debt counseling programs
In Turkey, the financial system is not only commercial, to a social dimension must have.
4. Protection Mechanism in Consumer Loans
One of the most important causes of debt crises is uncontrolled credit expansion.
Credit card limits
interest rates
debt to income ratio
Strong consumer protection mechanisms should be established in these areas.
The aim is not to ban debt, to prevent debt traps.
The real strength of a society is not the size of its banks.
The true strength of a society is the dignity of its citizens.
If people in a country are losing their lives because of debt, the economic system in that country is suffering from a serious moral crisis.
Economics is not just about numbers.
Economy is also human life.
Banks can be bailed out.
Financial systems can be restructured.
But a lost human life cannot come back.
So we have to ask the question:
Who does this system really work for?
For the banks?
Or is it for humans?
If the answer is banks, there is not only an economic problem.
There is a There is a problem of civilization.
And no society can survive for long with a system in which human life is written at the bottom of financial statements.