Monday, October 4th, 2004

A new experience today: paid a visit to a factory just outside of Çankiri. Not just any factory, mind you, but one that produces GINORMOUS ANTI-AIRCRAFT CANNONS!!! Blammo and all of that. It was weird, but a good view into how an industry works here in Turkey. We met with guy who runs the place, Talât Yüzbaşıoğlu, in his cavernous office and had a chat about how it all works. He was a very funny man, open and frank about everything. He came right up, hugged me and shook my hand profusely, telling me that he was my new uncle. After the obligatory çay and complimentary small talk, I began to ask him some questions about the factory.

This factory is a government run thing which produces Howitzer anti-aircraft guns as well as something else called the “Panther,” and conducts various research and development. The manager made special note that his guns can shoot 40 kilometers, while the American guns can only reach 38. “The only time Turkey is better than America!” he joyfully exclaimed in broken English. His factory is the only one licensed to make these things in all of Turkey. It’s interesting that even though it is a government run factory that produces only for the Turkish army, he still runs it with private funds. It is not subsidized. If he makes crappy guns, the government doesn’t buy them and he looses a lot of money, which means no salaries for himself and the rest of the plant. It’s a very interesting situation. I asked him if there are private military suppliers in Turkey. He replied yes; in fact, he owns 15% of the shares in the largest one. But there is no competition between his factory and that one, as no one else can make what he makes.

I talked a bit about the military supply sector in the USA and how it functions, with various companies bidding on a project and designing prototypes, and the government then picking a specific project. I asked him that since Turkey is attempting a push towards privatization, does he see this kind of system approaching his industry. If so, when? And will he survive it? Talât hailed our competitive market as “much superior” to the Turkish system at present. He said that in America, when companies bid on a military research project they receive military money to complete the research. So, even if they do not receive the project in the end, the workers are fully compensated for their time spent on the project. In Turkey, if you don’t get the bid you’re screwed, and just eat the cost. Talât felt that the competition would be very healthy for the industry, and that his company could succeed in this type of environment. He predicted that in 10 years a system like this would be more or less place.

Talât was also very critical of the Turkish government, which he said has as much bureaucracy as the Soviet Union! Even the lowliest government officials are provided cars and drivers, and everyone always opts to protect themselves over bettering the system. This was not a complete surprise to me but was very interesting to hear straight from the horse’s mouth. I wonder how Turkey will manage to reform such a cumbersome and costly government. This government can hardly collect taxes due to horribly collected records and lack of a central information system. These are perhaps some of the real questions behind Turkey’s troubles at joining the E.U. Such a badly run government would be a drain on the other countries of the union which carry their weight. Erdogan has been doing a seemingly good job of changing laws that effect human rights and equal opportunities (although whether they are being carried out is another question). But will he be able to reform his own governmental offices and still carry the respect that is needed to lead a nation? I understand why the EU says it will need at least 10 years before Turkey can join… perhaps even more are needed.

After this we took a walking tour of the factory, which was very modern and high-tech, featuring giganto vertical lathes and computer guided lasers that cut within 1/10,000 of a millimeter or something. I can’t remember how many billions of dollars they’ve put into this thing, but it was a staggering amount. The finished anti-aircraft guns that they produce are bigger than my garage at home. Quite incredible.

In the evening I visited Elif and her friends at home. We hung out, ate pizza, drank çay and Turkish coffee and talked about all sorts of stuff. Her housemate Zeynep read my fortune from the grounds in my coffee cup. Very cool, but definitely an elaborate b.s.ing. Entertaining though. I like spending time with these people very much.

Tomorrow is Umut’s birthday, so we are going to surprise him with a little party. I can’t wait; it should be a nice way to meet some more people and carry on social life outside of academics. I’m really happy with how things are turning out here. I’ll be very sad to leave Çankiri in a few weeks… I’m certain.