Industry is the mass production of something. That thing stands for the necessities of life… In a country like Turkey under the middle income trap there are about 16 million things and someone got to make them… Because, the social life stands on these. If you are the one who produces, it means that you got yourself a place in the industry. The question is, how much of these things you produce are made by you and how much of it you get from others. Your knowledge and capital; capable of to what extent? When it’s not, you depend on who, where and with what cost? By answering these questions we are writing the history of Turkish industrialization. Today, thankfully, the share of industry in the national income is about 15%. Enough? The answer to that can be either on the quantity or on the quality of the industry. Even though we are not on the level of Germany, that is approx. 35%, we are taking the benefits of not being like Greece, almost zero, or like Russia. In our day, the dependency of the societies, glorifying the services and missing the industry, to others is self-explanatory. Quantity may not be sufficient but more important is the quality of the industry. As is known, technology is the measure of industry’s quality. Only 3% of the industrial products in Turkey are high-tech whereas the medium level technology products reaching to 20% and the rest is still low-tech. In order to monitor the industry’s quality problem through import figures, 1 kilograms of Turkish import worth 1.5 USD whereas this value is about 3 or 4 USD for the countries that we are competing with. Therefore, the target for 2023 is quantified as 500 USD billion for import besides with aiming a 3 USD per kilogram of import as a quality standard. In our day the society acknowledge the requirement of quality leap and the concept of innovation is on everybody’s lips. Yet on the point of how to do it, the minds are not clear. Efforts are put but there is no collaboration among the decent. This detracts our development pace where the collaborations are essential. Another problem is about the capital need of industry. Lack of capital stock in the country caused the industry to be financed through foreign loans. This entailed epidemics such as current account deficit. Today, at this point, we know the fact that the climate for industry and investment will not only prosper through laws and regulations but also the reach of high quality finance options are extremely crucial. In this matter, İstanbul Industry Chamber’s research ISO-500 provide invaluable insights for us. Setting the standard about where we come from and where we go. It appears that, regardless of the conjuncture of the industry, the existing system with its structural problems leaves no field to grow. We mention the investment need and finance quality of the industry. Losing the two thirds of its profits for finance, how the industry could afford new investments, allocate R&D resources and advance from low added value structure to high-tech systems? This is not a plea for “cheap loan expectation”. This is stating the fact of unpleasant climate for investments with the given thoughts, mind-set, banking system and the financial instruments… It is clear that the investment climate cannot prosper within the given banking system… Famous American comedian Bob Hope joke about the banks that “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.” We observed the accuracy of Hope’s humor about the reality throughout the global crisis triggered by the finance economy in 2008. When it comes to Turkey, existing banking system is as exactly as Hope described. Regardless of some positive exceptions, I can say that on average for every 100 TL worth loans, 240 TL worth warrant is demanded. In a country where finance is so expensive, foreign loans and currency risks are undertaken. That couples economic growth with foreign debts besides with booming the current account deficit. Solution could be development banking. There could be new systems to improve the quality of financing. We achieved development banking, why not to? Industry is mass producing of something and in order to pull through middle income trap Turkey needs to mass produce products with high added value. What should the business man who has to spend a lot of money on overcharged land costs do with such finance of poor-quality. Investment need of industry is another problematic area and there is an apparent inappetency on investments since the 8.8% growth of 2008. Though the underlying reason of that is associated with the conjuncture, the primary problem in my opinion is the gradual perishing of the industrial spirit. Many third generation business men that I contacted state that they are awaiting to lapse into service or retailing businesses after their predecessors pass away. This is a very dangerous course because the industry is not only the backbone of the economy but also the raison d’etre of our existence in this geography where we are surrounded by the seas on three sides and with problems on four. The defense industry for instance… If we relied upon foreign armament in our fight against terror could we achieve what we have done today? With each missile costing tens of thousands of dollars today, you are in trouble unless you have your own industry. Because an efficient and sustainable defensive force is not feasible with foreign armament. Primarily the missiles are highly priced by the manufacturers…. The embargo we had after the Cyprus Operations are another issue. Reaching for the strategic technologies… Supplying the defensive armament on time when needed is also a problematic issue. There is more… Progressively developing intelligent weapons are extremely accurate now. You will have no chance to utilize these if you conflict with the manufacturer countries. Even more, you can’t use them against an enemy unless it is approved by the manufacturer. The more critical is that the systems that allow the manufacturer to turn the intelligent weapons against you are on the way. At this point one of our most lucrative actions is the mobilization to develop our own defense industry. Rifles, ships, aircrafts, helicopters, missiles, and so on… I also claim the domestic automobile project should be regarded within defensive industry perspective. Our President declared that he was looking for a brave fellow to manufacture a domestic automobile. When we look at the fellows we have, they are not that brave apparently. We can’t wait these fellows to be convinced. We can’t handle it. Because automobile is not just another industry. When you have automotive in a country then you have everything else. After manufacturing the world’s best automobile of the world in 1937 we saw Mercedes manufacturing the world’s best tank as well. After manufacturing the most luxurious car of the world in 1937, we saw Rolls Royce manufacturing the world’s best warcraft in 1938. Now the time has come that we should declare the launch date of our domestic automobile. Because this is the incubation spring for our automotive, defense and space industries… Along with the indispensability our defense, domestic automobile will be a precondition for that. Quality problem of the existing growth is at issue as well. We are expanding today by consuming. So as to expand tomorrow we must invest. We are obliged to ramp the industrialist spirit. To ramp the industrialist spirit we must free it off the ghosts of the past. Ghosts of the past are the capitals cheating the government, the business men evading tax, the rich abusing the public resources… We have learned it the bitter way within the last half of the century that it does not generate a sustainable growth. Now we must evolve into a new mind-set.