Türkiye’de Yoksulluk Olgusu’nun Yapısal Ekonomik Analizi (1908–2008)

If one needs to scrutinize the Economy of Turkey within a historic period of time, one realizes that poverty fact and factors which form poverty are essentials, because poverty is not a cause, but it is a consequence itself. Poverty, which relates to deprival, is the conclusion of several values, such as income, distribution of income within economy, consumption, employment, production, and trade, all of which are appeared as reflections of those values on people by economy. In this study, while we were questioning the poverty fact in Turkey, originating from the basic idea we established, we have analyzed how and in which direction the economic value, which has been formed over time, has impacted people. In relation to that, we have divided the time period of 1908-2008 of Turkey into four parts. First part is the study of what foundation the group of people who established the Republic took over from the Ottoman and what political agenda they followed to approach the poverty fact. We have evaluated the studies completed in this area and have tried to establish a critic point of view towards those studies as well. In part two, we have tried to analyze the economic aspect of the economy structure, which was created by the efforts in Turkish economy in order to find a place in capitalist world economy, and of the way it influenced the poverty fact. In part three, economy politics, which were practiced to distribute the inverted, foreign-bound industrial structure of Turkey, has been scrutinized, while the impact of these politics on poverty and income distribution has been discussed. In part four, the global development pattern which formed in Turkish economy after 1980s have been scrutinized in detail and the results of this pattern and its impacts on the transformation process in poverty. In this discussion, basic components such as employment, education, income, social security, income distribution, and poverty have been analyzed by using graphs and tables, which have been prepared by us by researching and evaluating institutional information and we have tried to develop a new conceptual dimension to approach the poverty fact in Turkey. In conclusion, the contradiction, which Turkey experiences economically, sociologically, and politically appears to be formed identically to those experienced in the whole world and the regions. The contradiction known as “North-South Contradiction” or “East-West Contradiction” in the world is experienced as “West Coast- East Highland Contradiction” in Turkey. Wealth is formed in either “North or West” and poverty is formed in either “South or East” in the world, while wealth is formed in “West Coast” and poverty is formed in “East Highland” in Turkey. Rich “West Coast “consists of developed regions and cities, while “East Highland” consist of underdeveloped regions and cities. Here, the concepts such as income, consumption, employment, education, social security, of which created the contradictions have been scrutinized and the conceptual contradiction has been revealed. This conceptual contradiction is the foundation of the economical and political divisions in Turkey. Because, the divisions in Turkey are much highly poverty and deprival related, rather than religion-secular or ethnic origin. It is the division caused by not being able to bring the economical and the sociological wealth of “West Coast” to “East Highland”. In our opinion, the essentials to remove this division can only be formed by changing and transforming “the Deprived Human Being” into “the Wealthy Individual Human Being”.