The state of emergency, declared soon after the July 2016 coup attempt, and extended six times since, has attracted plenty of attention for Turkey\u2019s deteriorating rule of law and civil rights.<\/p>\n
The way the government is using the very same decrees to restructure the economy and labour relations, without any parliamentary scrutiny, has not been put under the spotlight.<\/p>\n
Yet, they are making no secret of it. Last year at a meeting to mark the first anniversary of the unsuccessful coup, President Erdogan told<\/a> businessmen and investors that they will use the state of emergency to intervene in workplaces that pose a strike threat.<\/p>\n A policy-making process, with no democratic participation, has proved very convenient. The business community does not seem in the least bit disturbed. With trade union protests and demonstrations been prevented, and the parliament side-lined, the government has a free hand.<\/p>\n Having recently closed regulatory bodies on sugar, alcohol and tobacco, the government has now announced that it will hold tenders in April for the privatisation of the country\u2019s 14 sugar factories.<\/p>\n Turkey is the world\u2019s fifth largest beet sugar producer. It is also a big consumer.<\/p>\n Sugar beet is grown in most regions, but the bulk of the sugar production comes from Central Anatolia. Once the sugar is extracted, beets are used for production of ethanol, as well as animal feed, making it an important crop for a variety of side industries.<\/p>\n Sugar factories have been one of the longest established public enterprises in Turkey, employing thousands of people.<\/p>\n Fearing massive layoffs after privatisation, sugar beet producers, factory workers and opposition parties, understandably, reacted with anger.<\/p>\n Sugar factory workers and the labour union \u015eeker-\u0130\u015f have launched<\/a> a campaign to stop privatization, arguing that local economies would collapse if the factories were to be closed.<\/p>\n They are asking for modernization of plants, instead of privatization; warning against a spike in unemployment.<\/p>\n An increased dependency on imported, less healthy, starch-based sugar products, is another of their concerns<\/p>\n Sugar factories, \u00a0put out to tender, own large tracts of high-value land, which are likely to be used by prospective buyers to build shopping malls and residential buildings.<\/p>\n Main opposition Republican People’s Party Deputy Okan Gaytanc\u0131o\u011flu called<\/a> the sugar industry a \u201cstrategic sector in economy\u201d. He claimed that the government, heavily lobbied by a US-based sugar company, was acting in haste to sell them off. Mr. Gaytanc\u0131o\u011flu also complained that neither the opposition nor the public were informed of the details of such major policy decision.<\/p>\n Leader of Turkey’s small Islamist opposition Felicity Party, Temel Karamollao\u011flu, \u00a0was even more critical. He accused the government of seeking short term rant.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the last factory has been sold -off, when the last farmer leaves his field, the white men of the ruling AK party will have realised that one cannot eat concrete and asphalt\u201d, he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n