Think tanks and strategists in Turkey have never attempted to organize. There is no other professional group in Turkey that is as insensitive and apathetic to their own problems as they are and that have no interest in organizing. There is a need for think tanks in other areas aside from foreign policy and strategy as well (energy, terrorism, religion, transportation, tourism, banking, automotive, textile, economy, agriculture, health, education and defense industry, etc.). There is also a need for think tanks that specialize in narrow fields in foreign policy as well. In other words, aside from think tanks that work in fields that cover the entire world, there is a need for subject-oriented centers (EU, Balkans, Middle East, Africa). It would be beneficial for Turkey to open think tanks with countries with which it has important bilateral relations. For example, it would be good to have separate think tanks that focus on US-Turkey, EU-Turkey, Germany-Turkey and Russia-Turkey relations.Just as the Ministry of Culture provides financial assistance to private theater plays, movies and translations on the grounds that they benefit the public, or just as the government provides assistance to foundation-owned universities on the grounds that they benefit the public, the Prime Ministry and Foreign Ministry should provide assistance to think tanks on the grounds that they benefit the public.
Members of think tanks often participate in the National Security Academy as well. Turkey needs to utilize thank tanks more effectively as a foreign policy vehicle. Eximbank, technical support (like the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency [TİKA]), businessmen's organizations and think tanks can be more effective for the country if they coordinate with each other.
In order for think tanks to develop efficiently in Turkey, resources at public institutions should be made accessible to think tanks. But unfortunately, this is not practiced in Turkey. The law on obtaining information is inefficient. Aside from Web sites belonging to the economic bureaucracy, Web sites do not function. When a request to obtain information is sent to e-mail addresses provided on Web sites, there is no response. The relationship between Parliament and think tanks needs to be improved.
There should be legislation to deduct donations to think tanks from taxes. Think tanks pay a preposterous 38 percent tax, of which 18 percent is value-added tax (KDV) and 20 percent is corporate tax. Just as there are techno-cities, there should also be socio-cities. Companies and think tanks located in socio-cities should be granted appealing advantages (tax deductions) as is the case in techno-cities. It would be beneficial if the president, the prime minister and the foreign minister brought along representatives from think tanks in addition to journalists, businessmen and academicians when going on trips abroad. Think tanks should be invited to the weekly Foreign Ministry press conference.
Turkey is going through a period in which many public services are becoming privatized. But Turkish politics and bureaucracy have not been able to privatize the process of foreign policy development. Turkey has not been able to work with think tanks on this matter, and the private sector has not fully grasped the functions of think tanks. In a country where private theatrical plays have been supported on the grounds that they benefit the public, think tanks have been neglected. The state, the private sector and political parties do not know how to work with think tanks. For example, think tanks are not mentioned in the State Planning Organizations' (DPT) development plans nor are they included in the DPT's 2023 and 2050 projections.
Turkey is consuming its intellectual energy on domestic problems and European Union, Cyprus and Middle East-related foreign policy. This situation prevents Turkey from broadening its horizons to include Ottoman, Turkic and related regions. No human or economic resource is allocated specifically to foreign policy. It is for this reason that there will be great merit in ensuring coordination and support for think tanks in Turkey that specialize in foreign policy.
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