On third airport and present-day Turkish bourgeoisie

President of Turkey R. T. Erdogan proclaimed the third airport of Istanbul as "Monument to Victory". Note that country"s mass media (95% of which is government-controlled) declared that "the world flights center has moved from Europe to Istanbul". Naturally, time is required to clarify disputes on financial sources and project"s "profits-expences" matter.

However, it is impossible to hush up the most important aspect of the matter especially in terms of the fact that the third airport of Istanbul is claimed to be announced as the 21 century"s largest project. The point is about the bourgeoisie that became country"s richest persons following the project"s implementation. These include a group of persons who immensely got rich at the expense of public tenders.

The foremost source of income of the group is large-scale engineering-construction work. A World Bank report published a few months ago says that 5 pro-governmental companies of Turkey gained $ 136 bln worth tenders recently. In so doing, the report emphasized, this circumstance completely cut short of the very principle of fair competence (total volume of state tenders made up approx. $150 bln). Despite EU"s numerous appeals, over the past 15 years the authorities have 100 times alternated the law contriving to remove the traditional industrial bourgeoisie frpm large-scale state tenders.

As a result, Rahmi Koc, 87-year old honorary president of the largest industrial holding of the country Koc Holding, stayed that "over the past 10 years all investments were put into the construction, from now on we shall not invest a kurush into Turkey"s economy". After that he set his face towards foreign countries. "Dogus Holding" that became incredibly rich over the 10 years of the rule of the Party of Justice and Development (PJD), is presently seeking to cut down debts. "Ulker Hodling" that invests a greater portion of its capital into foreign countries is eager to get rid of dents as well. Actually disabled "Sabancı Holding" has long lost interest in industrial investments.

It should be remembered that from time immemorial state-sponsored investment groups of Turkey gave their preference to branches of industry capable of creating the value added tax (VAT). After June 21 when the PJD came to power for the third time, the nature of investments fully changed, and they were impetuosly withdrawn from VAT-creating sectors.

Today, the Turkish bourgeoisie is led by 4-5 construction companies incredibly enriched thanks to public tenders. Rhetoric of the new bourgeoisie in charge of secret financing mass media is fully identical to the rhetoric of the President and func- tionaries of the ruling Party.

Those attending the opening ceremony of the third airport of Istanbul on October 29 made certain once again that rhetoric of the authorities and the new bourgeoisie has been worked out in line with a single model. The semantics of the rhetoric is as follows: before Gezi developments in June 2013 the situation was rather favorable but later on things went bad, so we are and will be implementing large-scale projects due to the support of the President. Allah be thanked. Allah save the mark!

Is it possible that the bourgeoisie patronized by the state would ever think of country"s problems and the evelopment of industry? It is impossible because the bourgeoisie is not independent but acts by order of the authorities only. Is such a bourgeoisie interested in developing science, education and arts?

It was support of the Koc family (who left their enormous palace in the picturesque spot of Istabul strait ) that turned it into museum. And it was illimitable support of late Sakip Sabancı Eczacibasi that Turkey was moving on impetuosly. The said business groups have always rendered huge financial support to develop the country"s education, the most important challenge of the industrial bourgeoisie.

And what about the current construction bourgeoisie? One cannot forget huge money given to a man from Nehrem for creating an island in the Caspian Sea. And more, compare an illiterate newspaper owner, Haji Zaynalabdin Tagiyev who sent a man to Sankt-Petersburg to get a tsar"s permission for issuing newspaper "Hayat" ("Life"), and a group of Demireren who purchased a media-holding "Dogan" ("Falcon") for $800 mln taken from the Agricultural Bank. In so doing, it has thus nailed traditional central Turkish media. Like Azerbaijan, Turkey regressed exactly by 113 years...