“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness”
Taking inspiration in these elevating words of Mark Twain, an American author, I did not hesitate when I was offered the opportunity to visit Turkey, the only country that has part of it in Europe and another in Asia.
Already, there is something in our local parlance like ‘Travel and see’. In other words, it is always good to venture out of your traditional habitat so that you experience what is happening in other places. It is likely you may learn something new and probably through interaction, impart to your hosts, something about yourself and your country.
Istanbul, which is the commercial capital of the Republic of Turkey, is a mega city by all definitions, stretching 120 kilometres in length, 50 kilometres in width and being home to over 20 million people.
It has a history dating back to ancient times and it is a melting point of different religions, histories and layers of civilisation. It has many historical places of interest such as mosques, museums, palaces and basilicas to prove that.
My interest, however, as someone coming from Ghana, a country labelled developing, was in modern Istanbul, which, for four days, hosted businessmen and women and representatives of corporate institutions from all over the world. Among them were trade and business delegations from several African countries including Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Namibia and Mozambique.
What struck me on arrival at the Ataturk International Airport was that Turkey may not, after all, be one of the so-called developing countries. This modern, large and busy airport complex was named after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkey.
Some years ago, a group of countries in Africa, Asia and South America were placed in one country and labelled under-developed countries. Most of these countries were just emerging from colonialism or occupation and, therefore, had no stable economies or political systems. Most of these countries also belonged to the Third World, thus not part of the geopolitics of either Western Europe or the United States of America.
There were protestations from most of these countries that the term ‘under-developed’ was derogatory, hence the new term ‘developing’ which was coined for them and became the internationally accepted description for some of the poorest countries of the world.
Today, it is strange and totally misleading for some of these countries to continue to be branded as developing countries and in true fact, some are more developed and have greater prospects of developing faster than some of the so-called developed countries. It is in such group that one could find Turkey, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, India and Iran.
All sub-Saharan African countries, with the exception of Republic of South Africa, are still at the bottom and the earlier they accept the fact that their once stable mates among the developing world have left them and are now being described as emerging economies, the better it may open the eyes of their leaders to the realities of the day.
The truth is, Istanbul has become a symbol of Turkey’s phenomenal transformation over the last 20 years. The city has a vast road network of asphaltic dual carriageways, flyovers, trams, metro bus lanes and underground tubes to ferry the millions of commuters to and from their destinations.
Unlike in my country where traffic lights do not work, the vast city of Istanbul does not suffer that fate because the lights are powered by solar panels, something which was suggested here but was, in a nonchalant manner, brushed aside.
In the midst of that jungle of concrete and steel, the planners of Istanbul and most other Turkish cities have generous space for gardens to bring man and nature together. In fact, Istanbul is a blend of human ingenuity and natural landscape to give it a special beauty.
Istanbul is located strategically where Europe, Asia and Africa meet and the Strait of Bosphorus, which links the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, divides the city into two, one on the European side and the other on the Asian side. It is, therefore, the only city that occupies two continents — Asia and Europe.
This gives it an advantage as a major trading centre attracting companies and merchants from all over the world. The two sides are linked by two suspension bridges over the Bosphorus, which carry large volumes of traffic between European and Asian Istanbul.
Turkey itself has gradually become a major industrial and manufacturing country. It is the sixth largest producer of cement in the world, the ninth highest earner in tourism; it is second to China in textile production, it has a large jewellery industry and cumulatively, the 15th largest economy in the world, though the country cannot boast having one of the world’s richest gold mines.
It has a large chocolate industry but is not rated among cocoa producers on this planet. It has the second largest jewellery factory in the whole world even though it cannot boast the production of gold, diamond or any other precious minerals.
It produces vintage furniture for export when its timber resources do not come near that of Ghana. We have decided to sell our raw timber for a pittance at the expense of our ecosystem, while our governments take delight in importing furniture to furnish their offices and homes.
Ghana and other African countries will be deluding themselves in thinking that the ‘developing’ tag fits them and the emerging countries such as Turkey that are knocking hard at the doorsteps of the developed world.
Turkey imports very little vehicles because most of the major auto firms have their plants there. This has favoured their entrepreneurs to establish their own manufacturing plants. It also produces agricultural machinery, boats, electronics and light aircraft.
Turkey did not reach where it is now by chance or by accident. It took a visionary and well-focused leadership, leading the way for a committed and dedicated people who know what they want and how to get it.
Sometimes it is strange that almost all the traffic lights in Accra, the national capital, do not work, and we do not feel any dent on our pride as a people.
Even the one at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) intersection, which welcomes visitors, does not work for days. Can’t we adopt the solar panel system at least for our traffic lights?
Shall we call for a new political leadership which will run this country on business lines for results? Shall we tell our political leaders to stop counting their spoils of war even before they enter office? We have too much to sustain us and it is time we did away with the excuses. Ghana should not be where it is today. We must move forward, of course in the right direction.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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