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LAND ALLOCATION Law No. 4325 allows allocation of state land to the investment projects in designated priority provinces. Once designated, the State Property Authority delegates the advertisement of the land, the initial evaluation and approvals of the projects, and the land management to the provincial governors' offices. So far, 50 provinces have been designated as such priority provinces. Under Law No. 4325, state land can be given, free of charge, to an eligible investor (domestic or foreign), provided that the investor meets the following conditions: ü The project has to be pre-approved by the Undersecretariat of Treasury (by GDFI, if there is foreign participation) ü The project must be located in one of the 50 priority provinces ü The project must create at least 10 jobs
ü The project must be in operation for five years to demonstrate performance before the investor can have the title of the land. To apply for the state land according to Law No. 4325, the investor must first apply to GDFI for project approval. After having the pre-approval from the GDFI, the investor should apply to the local revenue office. Then, a special Commission is organized by the local Governor's Office to review and evaluate the application. The project file is forwarded to the State Property Authority for consent and then the Governor's Office issues an authorisation to the investor.
With this authorisation, the investor can use the land to make his investment. The investor would only have the use right of the land for the first five years. By the end of the five years, if the business continues to fulfill the employment obligation, the ownership of the land is given to the investor free of charge. TUBITAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) Supports:
TUBITAK compensates the related expenses of the research & development projects incurred by the companies, which have research & development activities. This assistance is in the form of donation. Firms can cover 50% of their total expenses regarding the project. The support period cannot exceed three years for each project. There is no upper limit stated for the amount of the incentive as long as it is less than 50% of the project value. TTGV (Turkish Technology Development Foundation) Supports: TTGV grants capital loans for research & development projects, which are classified as technological product and process innovation or technology improvement. A company having such a project will submit working plans and budget proposals to TTGV for the compensation of required expenses. An agreement will be signed by the parties for the eligible projects, which are approved by TTGV and acknowledged by the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade. According to the provisions stipulated in the agreement and by the approval of the Undersecretariat of Foreign Trade, the capital fund is granted up to a maximum amount that covers 50 % of the expenses incurred by the company regarding the project. The project period cannot exceed two years for each project and the amount of loan cannot exceed 2 million US Dollars. Loans are repayable over a four-year period. INCENTIVES FOR THE LEAST
DEVELOPED REGIONS According to the Law for the Encouragement of Investments and Employment, No. 5084, dated February 6, 2004, additional incentives are granted to the investors that make investments in the following provinces, which have a per capita income less than $ 1500: Kırşehir, Sinop, Giresun, Amasya, Uşak, Malatya, Sivas, Tokat, Diyarbakır, Afyon, Bartın, Erzincan, Osmaniye, Düzce, Çankırı, Siirt, Gümüşhane, Ordu, Erzurum, Batman, Bayburt, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Aksaray, Adıyaman, Kars, Van, Iğdır, Yozgat, Ardahan, Hakkari, Bingöl, Bitlis, Şırnak, Muş and Ağrı.
According to the new law, the following incentives are granted for new investments starting October 1, 2003 until December 12, 2008 in the aforementioned provinces: ü Incentive on witholding of income tax, ü Insurance premium incentive for employers, ü Free land allocation, and ü Energy support.q
IS KEMALISM STILL RELEVANT ? Prof. Ahmet Taner KIŞLALI Professor in Political Sciences, Writer, Former Social Democrat Minister of Culture. Contributed to "Anadolu".
Assassinated in 1999 Kemalism has undoubtedly established the basis of Modern Turkey in the 1920s. However, is this ideology still relevant in this new millennium and after 70 years of changes in Turkey and throughout the world? Has time come to finally renounce to some of its principles? The Kemalist nationalism supports the concepts of the nations' freedom and equality. It rejects all racial and religious aspects to define a nation. It defines the nation instead as "the entity which is based on a common history, language and culture". In a world which witnesses violence and painful separatism due to ethnical nationalism, and people sharing the same language and ethnic origins killing each other due to religious or ideological differences… And in Turkey where 28 civilizations have lived and 17 languages are spoken… Has the Kemalist "nationalism" really become obsolete?q q q The Kemalist republicanism had the project of establishing a participating democracy which respects liberties and which is close to the civil society. In a world where totalitarian regimes collapse and the most advanced nations are governed by participating democracies… And in Turkey where the civil society established by Ataturk seventy years ago, the democratic culture is regressing and all forms of participation are hindered… Has the Kemalist "republicanism" really become obsolete?
q q q The Kemalist secularism calls for the respect of religion while forbidding the interaction between politics and religion. A society, which looks for rational and scientific solutions to its problems, must have a "national education" which is thus based on reason and knowledge. It is therefore opposed to having some generations being educated in accordance with democratic principles whereas other generations are educated in accordance with the precepts of the religious state. In a world in which nations generate their progress from reason and knowledge, while the prisoners of religious fundamentalism remain in obscurantism… And in Turkey where the will to create a religious state and relegate its people to a Middle-Age obscurantism is voiced, and secular generations are clashing with fundamentalist ones, and religion starts to interfere in the state itself from national education to Home Affairs… Has the Kemalist "secularism" really become obsolete?
q q q The Kemalist populism is a form of socialism which rejects the privileges of a social class or elite to favour instead the values of work at the society level. In a world where democracies are based on a balance between work and capital, and democrats have established work as the supreme value… And in Turkey where they are trying to exclude the workforce and workers from the political scene -even with the aid of the Constitution… Has the Kemalist "populism" really become obsolete? q q q The Kemalist state control is based on a conception of the state which does not oppose at all the economic private sector but favours it instead. However, state intervention will be considered in the general interests or to ensure the best use of rare resources.
In a world where prevails a merciless economic competition, even the big states feel the need to support technological developments directly in order to protect their national economy…
…and in Turkey which counts amongst the ten countries where the gap in shared resources is the widest, and where the regional disparities in terms of development create problems at humanitarian level… Has the Kemalist "state control" lost its raison d'être? q q q Kemalism's revolutionary spirit originated from the need to change the existing institutions and create new ones that are better suited to our era. It is based on the idea of a permanent revolution, an interrupted renewal based on reason and knowledge, and the establishment and implementation of progressive solution to adapt to changes.
In a world where things change very quickly and institutions become outdated rapidly… And in Turkey where some powers hostile to Kemalism have reigned during forty years, despite declaring themselves as Ataturk's followers - when actually betraying him - and where the prevailing mentality in some of these institutions recalls the mentality prior to the 1930s… Has Kemalism's "revolutionary spirit" really become obsolete?