I can’t make a claim about the financial sectors of other countries because I live in Turkia. However, I can clearly say that the Turkish bankers are still unaware that we are experiencing a global epidemic disaster, or they choosing to ignore this pandemic that has turned our lives into a complete disaster.

I can clearly put forward this detection based on both my own experiences, the experiences of my immediate environment and what I have read.

Let me immediately mention the addressees of this article. Here, I distinguish between government banks and the bank founded by Atatürk, the Is Bank. Because these banks are trying to do banking in its real sense under all conditions and are trying to support their customers as much as they can even if they are in economic trouble.

On the other hand, other banks working in the sector, tend to pull the carpet from under you at the slightest trouble (most of these problems may be beyond your control). By the way, the addressee of this article is the top managers in those private banks. In other words, they are the heads of the related departments affiliated to the board of directors, general manager and assistant general managers.

The throwers and opportunists

 

On the contrary, I have nothing bad to say to those who try to continue their heroic roles in bank branches, I think they should be applauded just like healthcare professionals.

The top executives of these banks behave as if they were aliens rather than us who were stuck in homes, or as if over a million people in the world are not infected at the moment. They do not implement or pretend to implement any decision taken by the government. They do not meet the restructuring demands. While the nation is in trouble for life, and have isolated themselves in their homes, they are constantly knocking the ball out of bounds. There are even those who are opportunistic amongst them. It is a pity; it is a sin.

Shall I give you an example? Here is a news published on the tourism site: https://www.turizmaktuel.com/haber/isler-den-bankalar-firsatcilik-yapiyor-cikisi

This news states that the due to the coronavirus, the tourism sector was adversely affected in the process and the Deputy Chairman of Turkia Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED), Mehmet İşler has said that credit which was required to overcome the difficulties, has been provided by opportunism of private banks who have benefited from more stringent requirements.

In his statement regarding the economic measures taken, President Erdoğan drew attention to the importance of quickly meeting the liquidity and cash needs of companies with credit limits in financial institutions and organizations, and not restricting the use of credit limits.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that steps are expected from financial institutions to stretch loan terms in order to protect employment and sustain economic growth in this environment.

Is this happening? No.

Pulling the carpet from under the real sector

 

Let me tell you the current trend in private banks: They don't get involved in anything. They only have a tendency to keep track of current live loans. They then say they will we look into the issues later.

In other words, they are pulling the carpet from under the real sector and with the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of companies that they culled, some sectors will collapse and, in a sense, the economy will stop.

However, some sectors should not stop. Can we give up education, food, drink, production, energy? Absolutely not.

I do not know how to ensure that the banking sector, one of the pillars of the system, behaves in accordance with the spirit of the post-disaster situation caused by the pandemic. Bank executives need to grasp the gravity of the situation and change their mindset from top to bottom.

 

The risk of social explosion

 

Otherwise, this global epidemic will destroy all the strongholds of the inflexible capitalist system one by one. Banks are included in this. Without the real sector and entrepreneurs who provide economic growth, there will be no banking sector. The worst possible scenario is when a social explosion occurs.

I would like to remind those who will find this of exaggeration: under normal conditions, even those who have no need in their life become needy. For example, many SMEs such as barbers, hairdressers, waiters, buffet operators, motor couriers, cafes, restaurants, school buses, or many of the professionals working in different sectors, lower and middle level professionals have been in great trouble and this problem seems to get deeper.

The number of people in need is increasing exponentially. If this situation continues like this, and if banks do not take their place in this war of humanity for effective crisis management, they will ignite the social explosion. In other words, people need to think about what we can do on behalf of humanity and our people by putting aside the implementor of wild capitalism, who do not care about the tears of people and strive to implement the system they have established uncompromisingly, and how we can contribute to the fight against this virus. Otherwise, I do not think that the top executives of the banks sitting at the top of those high plazas will be able to maintain that careless attitude any longer.

On the other hand, properly working non-governmental organizations are trying to support the public as much as they can. At least, despite all the difficult conditions, they are producing and implementing different projects in order to relieve these troubles to some extent.

 

Time to question the conscience

 

In such an environment, I think that I will show innovative mind-making in the fight against coronavirus and reveal different projects that will give people an advantage and a chance for everyone to get to know me better.

In addition, we continue to help people in need through TIDER, which I founded. Signing onto new projects will relieve a little bit of the issue in our country as we produce these projects across Turkia. You will soon hear the news of my teammates and I on these topics. Despite all the difficulties I have faced, my entrepreneurship side also continues. As a result, my conscience is clear, I do my best for my people.

I am calling out to the bankers I mentioned in this article: Are you doing your best? Have you got a clear conscience?

 

3 bonuses of this post

I would like to share 3 videos about this blog post that deals with the current post-disaster coronavirus crisis and includes topics like the economy, business, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, non-governmental organizations and science.

1. Coronathon: The first of these videos, as I mentioned in the content of the article, is that entrepreneurs or those with an entrepreneurial spirit seek remedies for the post-disaster situation we are in. Here is the evaluation video of Coronathon, where entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs come up with ideas all weekend and choose the best ones and take steps to implement them:

 

 

2. Adim Adim - TIDER Talk: Last week, we had a digital chat as the guest of Kıvanç, the chairman of Adim Adim. In this conversation, we made an assessment of the current situation, explained TIDER and also conveyed the solutions developed by TIDER. Here is that video:

 

 

3. Daron Acemoğlu and Gökhan Hotamışlıgil Online Seminar: Daron Acemoğlu and Gökhan Hotamışlıgil attended the online seminar organized by DTİK, one of the important organizations of the business world, on April 1 as speakers. I would like to share the video of this seminar:

 

 

In this seminar, in which important information was given, I would like to share the summary of the seminar on DEIK's website, and then the summary of the seminar that was sent to me from a different source:

http://www.deik.org.tr/basin-aciklamalari-dunyaca-unlu-iki-turk-bilim-insani-koronavirusu-ve-kuresel-ekonomiye-etkileri-degerildi

 

Summary of the Seminar:

TWO WORLD-FAMOUS TURKISH SCIENTISTS ASSESSED THE CORONAVIRUS AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

The online seminar on "Coronavirus and Its Effects on the Global Economy" was organized by the World Turkish Business Council (DTİK) and DEİK / DTİK President Nail Olpak, Harvard University JS Simmons Genetics and Metabolism Professor Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil and Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Daron Acemoğlu attracted great attention. In the online seminar viewed by over 500 people, Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil explained the effects of the Covid-19 virus on individuals and public health while Prof. Daron Acemoğlu discussed the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy and governments in all dimensions.

The DEİK-DTİK President Nail Olpak, who hosted the program, drew attention to the change in many areas of daily life, especially consumer reflexes and working habits in the opening speech of the online seminar. Stating that these changes in behaviour and habits will primarily affect investment areas, Olpak stated that from a period when fixed returns were predictable, almost all pricing became complicated, interest and exchange rates were unpredictable and commodity prices, especially gold, became uncertain. Expressing that the importance of inflation should also be questioned in this process, the DEİK-DTİK Minister Nail Olpak said that e-commerce and logistics will also increase their weight in business life.

 

Gökhan Hotamışlıgil: "A virus can be much more effective than military combat vehicles. Now, medical devices can be produced, not military devices."

Stating that Covid-19 is a new type of virus that has not been encountered before, Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil mentioned, "The more global a problem is, the more global its solution must be. No government has the luxury of neglecting public health anymore. There will be an explosion in this issue in the coming period. Because now the whole world has seen that a virus is much more effective than military combat vehicles".

Prof. Hotamışlıgil also drew attention to the enormous speed of information. Pointing out that the genetic map of the virus was produced at a record speed, Hotamışlıgil stated that although the vaccine is very important, safety studies take a long time. Hotamışlıgil, who said that the effectiveness and protection activities should be completed afterwards, and stated that the vaccine cannot be released to the market to be shared with the masses without these results.

 

Hotamışlıgil: "The virus will try to escape, but we will continue to chase"

Stating that there are basically 2 scenarios, Hotamışlıgil advised that the first scenario is to strongly suppress the first wave in the spread of the virus. Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil stated that heart attacks and cancers do not stop when there is a pandemic and if herd immunity is tried, no country has the health capacity to endure it. Stating that he predicts this process to take 1 to 1.5 years, Hotamışlıgil said, "The availability of the drug can change everything. The better we can control this process, the more radical measures we can take in the future. We need to do as many tests as possible now."

Emphasizing the importance of serological tests, Hotamışlıgil drew attention to the importance of widespread serological testing and for people to return to their normal lives who have overcome it but did not know that they had it, and said that the more serological tests are performed, the more people can return to the workforce.

Prof. Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, advised Turkia to take these urgent steps as follows:

● Strengthening the health system,

● Controlling the number of lives lost,

● Increasing the health capacity and protecting doctors to enable this

● Increasing measures by shifting isolation from social responsibility towards mandatory,

● Increasing the number of tests,

● Turkia’s investments in science and the competence to issue a very high level,

● Establishing centres to combat epidemics and training personnel.

Daron Acemoğlu: "If we evaluate this period correctly, we can establish a much better health system and build a better welfare state"

Prof. Daron Acemoğlu stated that while the epidemic will have very deep and long-lasting effects on the economy, currently 50% of the USA cannot contribute to the economy. Stating that this means that economic activities have decreased by almost 30%, Acemoğlu pointed out that even in a normal recession in the history of the USA, 3% of the companies went bankrupt, and stated that the pandemic had spread to the whole world and this deepened the impact on the economy.

In saying that, they need to increase social measures between the government and civil society like they are in China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan with new technologies, Acemoğlu said that even though China made many mistakes, it was done in a top-down manner and that results were achieved.

Prof. Acemoğlu underlined that even though we are going through a difficult period, there is hope socially and politically. He stated that the global social and political system of the world cannot be changed.

Stating that the thesis of economist Friedrich Hayek can be falsified "if the economic power of the government increases, democracy will weaken", giving the example of Sweden, Acemoğlu stated that if this period is evaluated correctly, it will be possible to establish a much better welfare state and a much better health system. Stating that this is not easy, he emphasized that hope is still high. He underlined that as in all periods, everything is in the hands of people.

Acemoğlu stated that supply chains should be strongly supported. He stated that social distance policies and measures should continue to be taken for at least 1-2 years, and even if we return to work one day, we will not be able to return to restaurants for a long time. While saying that, the epidemic has just passed to Africa and some other regions and he stated that even if it is stopped in America and Europe, it may come again as a second wave in other regions and it is necessary to be cautious.

 

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