A mother and two children.
-Analysis-
ISTANBUL — In the immediate aftermath of last month's earthquake, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was forced to speak up to dispel the doubts of those who worried about donating to help victims. “Making cash donations through [disasters and emergencies authority] AFAD is a method that would eliminate exploitation and doubts,” he said on Feb. 10.
Haluk Levent, founder of the largest Turkish charity AHBAP, followed that up two days later with a statement that the organization has signed contracts with two independent auditory firms which will inspect each transaction they make.
It was not a coincidence that these two people, the leader of Turkey and the chair of the charity that collects the largest number of donations, made these statements following the public rush to collect material and monetary aid after the earthquakes. Unfortunately, there are always doubts in Turkey about whether charitable donations are in fact used for the reason that they were collected for.
We are very lucky that people never stop donating in spite of their doubts.
Skepticism is not a bad thing in itself, as skeptical people question what they are told. They do not obey blindly. Skepticism, when it comes hand in hand with curiosity, makes people learn new things, ask questions and search for answers.
Mistrust to paranoia
But common “doubt” in Turkey does not stem from such curiosity. This is a form of doubt that feeds from past experiences, but is mostly based on prejudice too. This leads to a “societal paranoia” that paves the path for people to believe even the most ridiculous conspiracy theories and lose trust in each other. Societies like us are described as “low trust societies.” We do not trust each other.
Did somebody pay us a compliment? Did they do us a favor without asking for something in return? We always look for an ulterior motive. The trickster is trying to fool us but thank goodness that we are smart, we wouldn’t buy it. That is also the reason even educated people can easily be scammed on the phone despite all the warnings from the police and the military.
When the scammers identifying themselves as law enforcement say “a terrorist organization has taken over your bank account; withdraw the money and bring it to us” on the phone, everybody complies — educated or not. Because deep down we know that if we get into any kind of trouble with a prosecutor’s office, we can spend a long time in prison before we can explain our situation.
Because we cannot trust the law, we have developed a belief that those tasked to administer justice won’t be doing what is required of their duty.
A divided society full of potential enemies
On top of all this, we cannot trust anyone because of the confusion brought down on us for political means.
It’s our daily routine now to look for conspiracies everywhere. We were confused by the use of “masterminds,” “lobbies,” “those who press the buttons from afar” and “traitors”. We tend to think the abnormal is more likely to happen, not the opposite.
This is only possible in divided societies, where people perceive each other as enemies.
Such a collective psychological mood is only possible in divided societies, where people perceive each other as enemies. We have been living in such a society in Turkey, we are all psychologically disturbed. That’s why we Turks, political stances and world views notwithstanding, are doubtful of whether our donations are reaching their targets.
After the Friday prayers, my late grandfather Yakup used to put some money in the cardboard box placed next to the exit of the mosque for the benefit of “the association to build and preserve mosques.” Then he would look at me and say: “Let’s see how much of it will be spent on the mosque.” The money was collected sometimes in a box and sometimes in a bag, which was reason alone to have doubts.
While my grandfather had strong suspicions that his donation wouldn’t be going to its intended place, he would not abstain from making a contribution despite his limited budget.
A one-man, murky political system
This does not happen on its own, not without a reason. This situation has been going on for several years and is now carved into our societal DNA. Our psycho-social problem is rooted in the non-transparent quality of our governmental system.
My readers who vote for the government can be at ease, this predates the currently leading Justice and Development Party (AKP). We Turks have founded many states in history but we have never been able to set up an accountable political system.
One-party governments with a one-man rule are never transparent.
This is a solvable situation, a curable disease. The cure is transparency and accountability. The AKP leaders should not immediately equate accountability with being put on trial.
For example, accountability vis-a-vis the earthquake aid would go like this: What kind of policies are to be implemented to compensate the damages caused by the earthquakes? Or what goals are to be reached and in which time frame? How will you provide the people with stable, reliable and understandable information that shows the collected aid and funds are ending up in the right places? Will the free media and NGOs, who will audit the government in the name of the people, have access to the upcoming government projects?
I regret to say that I have zero hope for any of that happening. One-party governments with a one-man rule are never transparent anywhere in the world. It won't happen here either. Therefore, we have good reason to worry about where our donations go.
Weight of nepotism
The distrust among the public goes beyond our doubts about earthquake aid. Being a low-trust society is also the reason that the capital accumulation of Turkey is not at the desired levels; that small enterprises cannot combine and transform into giant companies.
Family companies represent 96% of all existing companies in Turkey. This rate rises to 99% when looking at small and middle sized companies. They may be “stock” or “limited” companies in name but these are not companies in which the capital comes from a wide base of investors. Also, the average lifetime of a company in Turkey is 34 years. Only 30% of the companies are passed on to second generations and those that are transferred to third generations add up to only 12%. Companies that are inherited by the fourth generation are only 3%.
Italy, which has the same amount of family companies as Turkey, has an average lifetime of 104 years for its companies. This means a lot of the companies are being passed down for four or five generations. Selami Sargut, professor of management and organizations at Başkent University, said “stock companies” structures cannot be built in Turkey because it is a “low-trust society.”
Partnerships being transferred to the third generation are also extremely low for the same reason. Even shareholders who are related do not trust each other and therefore arguments on how to run the company can become destructive. There is only a small number of family companies that can be successful in transitions to professional managements.
Nepotism in family companies turn the professional managers into an extension of the families. Because the elder children of the families who have just returned from their studies abroad with no business experience pick the people who they can control with most ease: their cousins!
