Privatization in Turkey: Power Bloc, Capital Accumulation and State

227 Pages·2022·1.586 MB·English

by  Ahmet Zaifer

Privatization in Turkey
Studies in Critical Social Sciences

Series Editor
David Fasenfest
(Wayne State University)
volume 224
New Scholarship in
Political Economy
Series Editors
David Fasenfest
(Wayne State University)
Alfredo Saad- Filho
(King’s College London)
Editorial Board
Kevin B. Anderson (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Tom Brass (formerly of sps, University of Cambridge)
Raju Das (York University)
Ben Fine ((emeritus) soas University of London)
Jayati Ghosh (Jawaharlal Nehru University)
Elizabeth Hill (University of Sydney)
Dan Krier (Iowa State University)
Lauren Langman (Loyola University Chicago)
Valentine Moghadam (Northeastern University)
David N. Smith (University of Kansas)
Susanne Soederberg (Queen’s University)
Aylin Topal (Middle East Technical University)
Fiona Tregenna (University of Johannesburg)
Matt Vidal (Loughborough University London)
Michelle Williams (University of the Witwatersrand)
volume 19
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nspe
Privatization in Turkey

Power Bloc, Capital Accumulation and State
By
Ahmet Zaifer
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Bust of Karl Marx, 1939, by s.d. Merkurov, at the Fallen Monument Park (Muzeon Park of
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Contents

A cknowledgements ix
L ist of Figures and Tables x
1 I ntroducing the Privatization in Turkey 1
1 T heoretical Approaches to Privatization 7
1.1 L iberal Approaches 7
1.2 I nstitutionalist Approaches 9
1.3 M arxian Approaches 10
2 A n Analytical Framework for Understanding the Privatization
Process 15
2.1 C ontemporary Capitalism Is the Context that Brought
Privatization Policy to the Fore 15
2.2 T he State Is an Integral Element of the Privatization
Processes 19
2.3 A Power Bloc Is the Key Class Agent behind Privatization 21
2.4 P rivatization Is a Constitutive Element of Domestic
Accumulation Strategies 24
3 U nderstanding Privatization in Turkey – the Structure of the
Book 25
2 T he Development of soe s in Turkey in Historical Perspective 29
1 s oe s and Consolidation of Capitalism in Turkey: 1923– 1945 30
2 s oe s and Post- war Expansion of Capitalism in Turkey:
1946– 1960 36
3 s oe s, Duty Losses and Class Compromises: 1961– 1980 39
4 C onclusion 47
3 T o Privatize or Not to Privatize? Interventions to Privatization Process:
1984– 2001 48
1 T he World Bank and Foreignization Campaign of the Power Bloc:
1984– 1993 49
2 T he imf Programs, Intra- capital and Intra- state Conflicts:
1994– 2001 55
2.1 t üsİad- based Holdings and Privatization 58
2.2 I ntra- capital Conflicts and Privatization 60
2.3 I ntra- state Conflicts and Privatization 65
3 C onclusion 71
vi Contents
4 T he Acceleration of Privatization in the Post- 2001 Era: 2002 to 2009 73
1 P rivatization and Internal Restructuring of Accumulation
Strategies 74
2 P rivatization and Different Fractions of the Power Bloc 81
2.1 P rivatization and tüsİad Holdings 81
2.2 P rivatization and Islamic- Influenced Anatolian Capital
Groups 85
2.3 P rivatization and Foreign Capital 89
2.4 P rivatization and the akp Government 92
3 P rivatization and Resistance 94
3.1 S poradic Labor Resistances: Seka, Tüpraş … 97
3.2 T ürk- Metal Union and Domestic Private Iron- Steel Companies:
Erdemir 100
4 I nstitutional Reforms and Overcoming Barriers 104
5 C onclusion 109
5 T he Expansion of Privatization
Public- Private Partnerships: 2010– 2018 110
1 C onceptualization of the ppp Phenomenon 111
2 B road Contours of ppp Implementations in Turkey during the
2010s 116
3 D ynamics behind Acceleration of ppp s in Turkey during the
2010s 121
3.1 D omestic Capital Accumulation 122
3.2 P ower Bloc 126
3.3 S tate 135
4 C ase Studies 138
4.1 B osporus (Eurasia) Tunnel 138
4.2 G ebze- Orhangazi- İzmir Motorway (incl. Osmangazi
Bridge) 139
4.3 T hird International Airport for İstanbul 140
4.4 N orthern Marmara Motorway (incl. Third Bosporus
Bridge) 141
4.5 D ardanelles Bridge and Kınalı- Balıkesir Motorway (Malkara-
Çanakkale Section) 142
4.6 H ealthcare Campus Projects (City Hospitals) 143
5 C onclusion 149
6 C omparing Alternatives to Privatization 151
1 I mplications of the Turkish Privatization Experience 152
Contents vii
2 W hat Is a Substantial Alternative to Privatization? 153
2.1 T raditional State Ownership and Control 154
2.2 C orporatization 156
2.3 D emocratic Control 158
3 T he Question of Strategy: How to Construct and Defend a Substantial
Alternative? 163
3.1 B uilding Alliances 163
3.2 M aking the State an Operationally Contested Space/
Process 166
4 C onclusion 171
Appendix 1 t üsİad- based Conglomerates 173
Appendix 2 I slamic- Influenced and/o r Anatolian Companies Having
Close Relations with akp- Erdoğan 185
Appendix 3 D ivestitures in Turkey between 2010 and 2018 193
R eferences 196
I ndex 212

Acknowledgements

There are many people who contributed to bringing this book to completion
and in stimulating my ideas and thoughts on privatization and Turkey. I would
particularly like to thank Thomas Marois, Şebnem Oğuz, Eren Düzgün, Fuat
Ercan, Pınar Bedirhanoğlu, Galip Yalman, Zülküf Aydın, Gilbert Achcar, and
Kate Bayliss who all read drafts or excerpts of this book at some point. I greatly
appreciate the time these individuals gave to seriously engage and offer criti-
cisms and comments. I would also like to thank the New Scholarship in Political
Economy and Studies in Critical Social Sciences series editor David Fasenfest for
his extremely helpful editorial input throughout the preparation of this book.
Many of the ideas in this book originate in my Ph.D. dissertation, completed
in 2016 in the development studies department at soas, University of London.
I thank all the faculty staff that made my time at soas such a pleasure and
exciting learning experience. There are very few academic institutions that
truly encourage critical thought in a contemporary university setting – the
soas development studies department was one of these and it was a privi-
lege to study and work alongside an exceptional group of faculty and graduate
students. In particular, I would like to thank Thomas Marois, my dissertation
supervisor. Thomas remained a wonderful intellectual mentor and friend who
taught me an enormous amount about understanding the world and working
to change it. This book would not have been possible without him.
While writing this book I spent six months in London carrying out research
at the soas library and teaching at the Kaplan International College London
(kİcl). Staff at kİcl were generous with their time and friendship. In par-
ticular, I would like to thank deeply Vjekoslav Butorac, Academic Director of
kİcl. There are many other friends and relatives in London that also made my
research possible. A special mention is needed for my aunt Pembe Balıkçıoğlu.
Finally, this book is dedicated to my wife, Şerife Komut, and my parents,
Emine and Zafer Zaifer.
newgenprepdf
Figures and Tables

Figures
1 T ypical ppp project stakeholders 114
Tables
1 P rivatization value in Turkey, 1984– 2018 ($ billion) 3
2 D uty losses in Turkey 43
3 S ale of state participation shares in private companies (selected list) 55
4 b ot- based ppp projects: 1994– 2000 59
5 P rivatization of state banks (1994– 1998) 60
6 p tt investments, 1983– 1993 ($ million) 67
7 P rivatization and labor force reductions in Turkey 78
8 P rivatization of key input providing soe s 79
9 M ajor ppp projects in Turkey (2002– 2009) 80
10 S uccessful privatization projects of Sabancı Holding (2002– 2009) 84
11 S elected privatization projects of other tüsİad Holdings (2002– 2009) 85
12 S elected privatizations (divestitures and ppp s) of Islamic- influenced Anatolian
capital groups (2002– 2009) 88
13 S elected privatizations involved by foreign capital (2002– 2009) 91
14 O fficial membership figures of labor confederations in 2009 96
15 L arge-s cale ppp projects of Turkey between 2010 and 2020 117
16 S ome ppp laws and models in Turkey 119
17 T he share of the construction sector in gdp 123
18 D omestic cement consumption in Turkey and infrastructure projects 127
19 S ales of Tüpraş, 2010– 2017 (mn tons) 133
20 H ealthcare campuses (ppp) in operation 145
21 H ealthcare campuses (ppp) under construction 147
22 N ormative criteria for evaluating the substantive nature of alternatives to
privatization 161