One of the most critical factors determining the future of this country is its economic resilience, because when the economy weakens, the weight of the state also diminishes. When we look at the last period of the Ottoman Empire, we see one of the most prominent examples of this: The long-term mining concessions granted to foreign companies were so far-reaching that they had a say in many matters, from where they would dig to what they would pay to the state. The land was ours, but the rule was in the hands of others. This was precisely the reason behind Atat\u00fcrk's radical change of this system in 1926.<\/p>\n
With the establishment of Etibank and MTA in 1935, Turkey put its underground riches on a scientific and national basis. At that time, mines were not seen as a short-term source of income, but as strategic elements that strengthened the country's independence. This determination was the most concrete indication of the young Republic's will to stand on its own feet.<\/p>\n
There was poverty, but what determined the direction of the country was an anti-imperialist line of independence; the issue was who was left open to the direction of sovereignty.<\/p>\n
In the following years, this line gradually loosened. In the 1950s, foreign companies returned to the field and it became unclear who was even in control. The real break came after 1980: Laws were changed, Etibank was privatized, and licensing processes were accelerated. Long-term planning was pushed back, and mining was gradually handed over to day-to-day license decisions.<\/p>\n
Bug\u00fcn tablo olduk\u00e7a a\u00e7\u0131k: Ruhsat say\u0131s\u0131 son yirmi y\u0131lda be\u015f kat artm\u0131\u015f durumda. \u0130lk bak\u0131\u015fta kalk\u0131nma hamlesi gibi g\u00f6r\u00fcnse de asl\u0131nda planlama eksikli\u011finin i\u015fareti. Devlet pay\u0131n\u0131n d\u00fcnya ortalamas\u0131n\u0131n alt\u0131nda tutulmas\u0131 da bu tabloyu a\u011f\u0131rla\u015ft\u0131r\u0131yor. Alt\u0131n i\u00e7in bizde %2\u20134 olan devlet pay\u0131 Kanada\u2019da %11\u201316. Aradaki fark bu kadar b\u00fcy\u00fckken \u201cBiz kendi de\u011ferimizi neden bu kadar d\u00fc\u015f\u00fckten veriyoruz?\u201d sorusu kendili\u011finden ortaya \u00e7\u0131k\u0131yor.<\/p>\n
The figures make the situation even clearer: Turkey's annual mining revenue is $11.5 billion, of which only $2 billion goes back to the public sector. Gold production dropped from 42 tons in 2020 to 31.4 tons in 2023. Even as production decreases, the fact that most of the enterprises are foreign-owned shows that a significant portion of the value obtained from the mine flows out of the country. Forest areas are one of the fastest disappearing assets. In the last decade, an area five times the size of forests has been licensed; fifteen thousand hectares of forests were opened to mining in 2023 alone. This is the most concrete example of how a country can have so many resources and still be impoverished.<\/p>\n
Our potential is high, but the current policy does not demonstrate a will to turn this potential in favor of the country.
\nTurkey's low income from mining is not a coincidence; it is the natural result of the preferences adopted for years.
\nAs long as this view does not change, it is not realistic to expect the results to change.<\/p>\n
Once a symbol of sovereignty, mines today have lost their strategic value and have been reduced to licenses. When a country's policies leave the value generated by its own resources in other hands, this results in an erosion of the country's strategic independence.<\/p>\n
Ataturk's era, both the top and the bottom of the soil were the honor of the nation. Today, we are in a low-income, high-cost and foreign-dominated system. This is no longer just a mining debate; it is a mirror of whether this country can manage its own destiny. And when I look into that mirror, I can only think of one sentence: It must not go on like this.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bu \u00fclkenin gelece\u011fini belirleyen en kritik unsurlardan biri ekonomik direncidir; \u00e7\u00fcnk\u00fc ekonomi zay\u0131flay\u0131nca devletin a\u011f\u0131rl\u0131\u011f\u0131 da azal\u0131r. Osmanl\u0131\u2019n\u0131n son d\u00f6nemine bakt\u0131\u011f\u0131m\u0131zda bunun en belirgin \u00f6rneklerinden birini g\u00f6r\u00fcr\u00fcz: Yabanc\u0131 \u015firketlere verilen uzun s\u00fcreli maden imtiyazlar\u0131 \u00f6yle geni\u015f kapsaml\u0131yd\u0131 ki, nerede kaz\u0131 yapacaklar\u0131ndan devlete ne \u00f6deyeceklerine kadar pek \u00e7ok konuda s\u00f6z hakk\u0131 adeta onlara b\u0131rak\u0131lm\u0131\u015ft\u0131. Toprak bizimdi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":280384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[286],"tags":[15,78,288],"class_list":{"0":"post-280383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-yazarlar","8":"tag-chp","9":"tag-kemal-kilicdaroglu","10":"tag-ozgur-ozel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280385,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280383\/revisions\/280385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/halkweb.com.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}