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Privatization processes as ideological moments: The block sales of large-scale state enterprises in Turkey in the 2000s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2015

Merih Angın  and
Pınar Bedirhanoğlu
Merih Angın
Affiliation:
The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Department of International Relations and Political Science, Geneva, Switzerland, [email protected]
Pınar Bedirhanoğlu
Affiliation:
Middle East Technical University, Department of International Relations, 06800 Ankara, Turkey, [email protected]
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Abstract

In the process of neoliberal transformation in Turkey, what differentiated the 2000s from the previous two decades were the block sale privatizations of large-scale state enterprises such as PETKİM, Türk Telekom, TÜPRAŞ, and ERDEMİR. These block sales, the conditions of which were shaped by political struggles at different levels, were also constitutive political and ideological moments per se, helping to reproduce a particular perception of social reality at the expense of others. This paper will overview and critically problematize the privatization processes of these four enterprises, all completed under the successive AKP governments in power since 2002. By focusing on the apparently technical and economic aspects of the block-sale processes, such as valuation, efficiency enhancement and marketing, the paper calls into question the increased concerns over their transparency, and wonders whether such concerns can be understood as attempts to mask the substantially corrupt nature of capitalist relations of production, which inescapably makes itself felt during these processes.

Keywords

PrivatizationTurkeyneoliberalismAKPlarge-scale state enterprises
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 47: Special Issue on Turkey's Experience with Neoliberal Policies and Globalization , Fall 2012 , pp. 139 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © New Perspectives on Turkey 2012

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