Türkiye’s Industry in Freefall? CHP Raises Red Flag

During discussions on the 2026 Central Government Budget Proposal, CHP İzmir MP Seda Kaya Ösen issued a sharp warning: Türkiye is confronting a growing risk of “deindustrialization”, driven by weakening competitiveness, declining production capacity, and widening external trade gaps. Speaking at the session on the Ministry of Trade’s budget, Ösen argued that Türkiye’s economic structure is becoming increasingly fragile, particularly against the backdrop of soaring imports from China.

According to Ösen, Türkiye’s trade relationship with China has become severely distorted. “Türkiye buys back 11–12 times what it sells to China,” she said, underscoring what she views as a structural imbalance that undermines domestic industry. She criticized the government for failing to shield producers amid rapidly shifting global trade dynamics.

Ösen contended that Türkiye is navigating its own self-inflicted economic turmoil rather than responding strategically to global realignments. “Türkiye, in a period where global politics and trade are changing rapidly, is struggling to survive inside an economic crisis it has created rather than producing solutions to the challenges it faces,” she said. According to her, the country’s economic future has become “defenseless against other nations’ tariffs and policies.”

A Global System in Flux—and a Weakening Producer Base at Home

Continuing her address, Ösen argued that worldwide trends are moving toward more protectionism, while Türkiye fails to adapt. With the World Trade Organization losing influence and countries increasingly protecting their own producers, she said Türkiye’s competitive position worsens by the day.

Ösen pointed to long-term data showing the erosion of Türkiye’s productive sectors. The share of industry in GDP, she noted, has fallen dramatically—from 30% in 2022 to 20% in 2025. Agriculture has also lost ground. While peers such as China, Vietnam, and India are expanding manufacturing capacity and investing in R&D-driven growth, Türkiye is drifting away from production and losing its foothold in key industrial sectors.

This decline, she emphasized, is mirrored in foreign trade patterns. Türkiye remains highly dependent on imported intermediate goods, preventing the country from building a more resilient, value-added industrial structure. “We cannot create value in critical sectors,” she argued, “because the government fails to implement policies that direct investors toward productive areas or that genuinely support real industrial output.”

Low Technology Export Trap: “A Country That Only Assembles Cannot Win”

Ösen presented further data pointing to what she called Türkiye’s deepening structural weaknesses. Over the last two decades, the share of high-tech products in total exports has stagnated between 3% and 5%. Despite improvements in the defense industry—“important but insufficient,” she noted—Türkiye still predominantly exports low-technology products.

For twenty years, the share of low-tech exports has remained between 59% and 65%, meaning that two out of every three products Türkiye sells abroad are low-technology goods. This, Ösen warned, traps Türkiye in a low-value economic position.

“This path cannot deliver success,” she said. “If Türkiye continues like this, it will become a country stuck in assembly operations, unable to generate value-added production. Ambitious economic targets will remain empty rhetoric.”

Ösen argued that government efforts to portray a bright economic picture are detached from the public’s lived reality. “Despite attempts by officials to paint a rosy image, citizens’ problems are now too large to hide.”

She concluded with a political message: “The solution lies with the CHP. The solution lies in a Türkiye guided by the CHP—because Türkiye has no choice but to produce.”