The Turkish
Republic, founded on the socio-economic
heritage of the Ottoman
Empire, inherited a heavy burden of debts
and an economic structure strictly based on
agriculture. A new economic policy was started
with the creation of basic industry (iron,
steel, textiles, cellulose and paper, ceramics,
chemicals). New laws were introduced, banks
and financial institutions were founded. The
private sector, playing an important role
in the national economic scene, was supported
by the state. Many new enterprises partly
or completely owned by the state, were opened
for the publics benefit.
Turkey
economically suffered from the Second World
War. In 1948, under the framework of the Western
countries reconstruction (Marshall Plan),
and against the Soviet threat, Turkey was
one of the countries receiving aid, and became
a member of the IMF and NATO.
A liberal economic system was founded and
exportation increased. In spite of all this,
in the second half of the 1950s, following
the political instability of the time, economy
reached a stalemate. In 1963, under the new
constitution, a five year development state
plan was created, restarting economy and accelarating
the expansion of the industrial sector.
After
the military coup
of 1980, Turgut Özal came onto the political
scene and thanks to his innovating ideas and
his liberal tendencies, he redressed and vivified
economy and allowed Turkey to carve out a
place in the world market.
Following
a same policy, Tansu Çiller, the first woman
to become Prime Minister, tried to overcome
the deficit in the budget and to reduce the
high rate of inflation. In 1994 Turkey started
to loose economic stability, and her government
was forced to take emergency measures, levying
a wealth tax and closing non profitable state
enterprises.
In
1996, the Customs Union agreement with
the European Union came into operation.
In
december 1999, Turkey was officially admitted
as a candidate to the European Union
(full membership has been applied for since
1987).
In addition to its European partners, Turkey
is a supplier to many Moslem countries, and
collapsing of communism designated it as a
logical partner of the ex USSR and slav countries
for food and manufactured articles supplying.
Following
a crisis that occured in February 2001 in
the banking sector, leading to the devaluation
of the Turkish Lira by more than 30 percent,
Kemal Dervis, a World Bank vice president,
was appointed as a minister of state for the
economy and started an anti-inflation economic
program.
Since 2002, Turkey has engaged in harmonizing
its legislation and institutional basis to
match EU standards and requirements. The government
is also implementing a structural reform,
including tighter fiscal policy, and economic
stabilization program with the support of
international financial institutions including
a stand-by agreement with the International
Monetary Funds (the IMF).
On January 1, 2005, six zeros have
been removed from the Turkish Lira (Türk Lirasi).
The new currency unit is the YTL and
the international currency code of the YTL
has been determined as TRY instead
of the previous TRL
(see Useful Tips).
The arrival
of the new Turkish Lira confirms the success
of the plan for economic recovery set up with
the support of the IMF. The country has experienced
a growth rate of about 10 percent
and a new agreement of three years duration
with the IMF, accompanied by 10 billion dollars
credit, that will replace the current program
after February 2005, should allow Turkey to
complete the restructuring of its economy.
Inflation, fallen to approximately
10% at the end of 2004, reached its lowest
level in nearly thirty years.
The major industries include textiles
and clothing (largest export), and leather
goods, foodstuffs, mining, automobile industry,
cement, construction, lumber and petroleum
products, iron and steel, fertilizers.
The
major exports include cotton, clothing,
textile articles, tobacco, citrus fruit, pistachios,
hazel nuts, raisins, figs, apricots, aromatic
herbs, rose-water, honey, tomato-sauce, red
pepper, dried vegetables, pastas, biscuits,
olive oil. Stock farming products, meat and
wool, leather goods. Also iron and metals,
ceramics and glass, machinery, buses, chemicals.
The major imports include foodstuffs,
petroleum products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
plastics, iron, steel, natural gas, vehicles.
The main resources are:
- Agriculture: because of the variety
of the soils and climates, produces are numerous
and varied. Due to extensive agriculture,
Turkey is self-sufficient and exports a fair
amount of its resources:
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Cotton Flowers |
Sunflowers - Region of Edirne |
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* Cereals come first in the production
with wheat, barley,
corn, rye, rice and oat.
*
Industrial plants include tobacco,
cotton, sesame-seeds, sunflower, potato,
sugar-beet.
* Roses for fragrance and rosewater
and rose oil (Isparta).
* Opium-poppies are grown under strict
state control. 75% of poppies are
grown in Afyonkarahisar, Burdur, Eskisehir,
Isparta, Kütahya and Usak.
*
Pistachio-trees (southeastern Anatolia)
and hazel trees (Black Sea region).
* Leguminous plants are grown in large
quantities: lentils, beans, broad
beans, chickpeas.
*
Tea
plantations (Black Sea region),
olive-trees (western Anatolia) and
vines (Thrace, central and western
Anatolia).
* Citrus fruits.
* Aromatic herbs (lavender, laurel,
sage, mint, origanum, dill). |
Poppy flower |
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Fir trees - Black Sea Region |
Cedar trees - Mediterranean Region |
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Animal husbandry: Turkey is the first
wool productor in Europe. There is a great
variety of sheeps, of which the Merino,
introduced in 1925 and famous for its wool.
Goat breeding is very important. The silky
long-haired Mohair goat from Ankara
(Angora), produces 1.5 kg of wool per year.
In 1950 mohair goats, offered to the English,
were first acclimatized to South Africa
and later to California.
Buffalos can be found in large droves seeking
for water. Oxen are still used as draught
animals, donkeys carry burdens, horses are
ridden in the steppes, dromedaries
carry the nomads heavy loads.
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Fishing: there is a big potential of
seafood because of the numerous seas, lakes
and rivers. However due to the primitive
techniques that are still in use, production
and consumption of seafood are low. Most
of the fishing is done in the Black Sea.
Anchovies, small mackerels and bonitos are
the most common and then the cheapest fishes.
The major freshwater fishes are truits and
carps.
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- The subsoil encloses varied mines:
*
Coal, found on the Black Sea Coast (Erigli-Zonguldak)
has been exploited since the War of Crimea
(1855).
* Lignite is mostly found in western Anatolia
(Yatagan, Ula, Soma) and in the North-Est
(Kars).Iron in eastern Anatolia.
*
Non-ferrous metals are mainly worked by
state enterprises and exported : chrome
and manganese (Mügla, Fethiye, Köyçeyiz),
bauxite (Taurus), boron and magnesite (Eskisehir),
kaolin (Izmir), antimony and tungsten (Bursa),
nickel (Ankara), silver (Kütahya), gold
(Hatay), sulphur, silver bearing lead (Aegean),
copper (South-East), emery, quartz (Mersin).
* Petroleum is exploited in the South-East
(Batman, Adiyaman). Its production represents
about 20% of the domestic consumption. The
five main refineries are located in Izmit,
Aliaga, Mersin, Kirikkale and Batman.
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- Hydro-electricity is produced by
the major power plant dams : the Atatürk
Dam and Keban Dam on the Euphrates, the
Sariyar on the Sakarya, the Hirfanli on the
Kizilirmak.
GAP (Güney Anadolu Projesi = Southeastern
Anatolia Project) is the largest regional
development project ever undertaken by Turkey.
The multi-sectoral programme aims to develop
nine provinces in the Euphrates-Tigris
basins and upper Mesopotamia plains,
and to contribute to social stability and
economic growth. It covers such sectors as
irrigation, hydraulic energy production, agriculture,
urban and rural infrastructure, forestry,
education and health.
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The construction of 22 dams (the master-piece
is the Atatürk Dam ranking 4th among the
worlds largest) and 19 power plants and irrigation
schemes cover an area extending
1.7 million hectares / 4.2 million acres.
The works are planned to end by 2005
and the annual energy production will reach
27 billion kwh. The total coast of the project
is 32 billion US $.
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Thermic energy is produced in the thermal
power-stations of Yatagan, Afsin-Elbistan.
- Tourism in Turkey is promoted by
two factors:
*
The geographical
factor with an exceptional situation
between Europe and Asia, and coasts extending
on 7,200 km / 4,475 miles. The diversity
of the climates that has given birth to
an extremely varied fauna and flora. And
300 shiny days with the Mediterranean climate.
*
The historical factor
: favourite land to numerous people whose
civilizations have left vestiges and masterpieces.
*
10.5 million tourists came to Turkey in
the year 2000.
*
Tourism incomings reached 7.8 billion US
$ in 1998.
*
The
number of Turkish tourists going abroad
has reached 5 million a year.
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