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Political
Status
Turkey (Turkiye Cumhuriyeti) is a secular state
with an authoritarian regime, although it is
parliamentary.
The present
constitution dates from 1982. Executive power is
held by the President, elected for a seven year
term of office by general election, and by the
Prime Minister, chosen from the Parliamentary
majority and responsible towards the deputies.
The present President is Ahmet Necdet Sezner, since
the 16th May 2000, and the Prime Minister is
Bülent Ecevit, since 11th January
1999.
The
legislative assembly, the National Assembly or
"Meclis" is made up of 550 deputies who are elected
by direct general election for a five year term of
office.
The Presidential Council is made up of 4 members of
the National Security Council (the heads of the
three armies and the police force).
Voting age is
21, the voting system is one man one
vote.
The country
is made up of 73 provinces, called "il" or "iller"
in plural.
Short
historical outline :
- 330 :
Byzantium, rebaptised Constantinople, becomes the
capital of the Roman Empire (under Constantine)
- 1453 : Mehmet Ali seizes Constantinople
- 1520 : Suleyman 1st (1520-1566), the Ottoman
Empire's greatest sultan comes to the throne
- 1908 : revolution of the Young Turks
- 1919 : Kemal Ataturk proclaims the independence
and the union of Turkey in its national limits
- 1920 : Treaty of Sèvre and the abolition
of the sultanate in 1922
- 20.10.1923, Turkey becomes a Republic, with
Mustapha Kemal Ataturk as President
- 12.9.1980, Suleyman Demirel is overthrown by
General Kenan Evren during a military coup.The
latter becomes President until 1989
- 6 .11.1982, return to democracy. Turgut Ozal wins
the elections with the Mother Country Party and
becomes Prime Minister.
- 9.11.1989, Mr Turgut Ozal is elected
President.
- 20.11.1991, Mr Suleyman Demirel is nominated to
the post of Prime Minister
- 17.04.1993, death of Turgut Ozal. 16th May Mr
Demirel is elected President. Me Tansu Ciller is
named Prime Minister on 13th June.
- 6.03.1995, The Greek veto against Turkey joining
the European Union is withdrawn
- 20.09. 1995, Me Tansu Ciller resigns
- 24.12.1995, victory for Mr Erbakan, from the
Islamic party.
Two months
after these elections the government coalition
broke up when Tansu Ciller left the party. The
country was without a government for seven months.
The Islamic party (Refah Partisi) came out of this
conflict much stronger.
- 7.06.1996,
Mr Erbakan forms a new government
- Bülent Ecevit, the leader of the Social
Democratic Party (DSP) is Prime Minister since the
11th January 1999.
Geographical
situation
Turkey is situated in Asia Minor. It is
surrounded by the Russian republics and Bulgaria,
Iran in the east, Irak and Syria in the south. Its
natural northern frontier is the Black Sea.
The length of its borders in kms : coastline 5200,
Armenia 268, Azerbaidjan 9, Bulgaria 240, Georgia
252, Greece 206, Irak 331, Iran 499, Syria 822.
Its total
surface area is 780,580 sq. kms. for a population
of 63 million inhabitants. Its geographical relief
and its soil makes it rather unfertile.
Turkey's
maritime zone stretches for 6 nautical miles into
the Aegean Sea, 12 nautical miles into the Black
Sea and the Mediterranean.
Economy & statistics
The major decrease in the economic growth since
1998 was prolonged by a recession in 1999 and made
even worse by the August earthquake. The effects of
this, added to a weak internal demand, an
unfavourable external environment and structural
problems have put the country in a difficult
situation. On the other hand, the rebuilding of the
disaster area should contribute to the activity in
2000, but will certainly increase the
inflation.
The level of
public debt is also worrying, particularly since it
is financed by short term loans in the main and
generates strong inflation. The perspective of a
speeding up in privatizing and of structural
reforms which have been delayed due to political
instability over the last years, should help to
unblock international credits and hopefully improve
this situation.
Also, in
spite of the commercial deficits being covered by
tourist revenues and private transfers, external
pressures remain strong. On one side the debt
charges are high, nearly a third of export
revenues, and on the other the financial needs of
the country are assured by very volatile capital,
most of which is attracted by the high interest
rates.
In this
context Turkey remains very vulnerable to the risk
of a loss of confidence in its investors. A
budgetary or political crisis would restrict the
available finances and could cause a foreign
exchange crisis. The banking sector is fragile, too
preoccupied with an investment logic : the banks
loan primarily to the State to finance the public
debts instead of supported private activity. At the
end of November a confidence crisis did in fact
take place, shaking up the banking system and
setting off an outward flight of capital. The lack
of liquid assets forced the Central Bank to dig
into its reserves for over 45 billion francs. This
financial crisis confirmed how necessary it is to
reform the whole banking system and to privatize
companies and public banks.
The economy
is fairly diversified and has an important
developement potential (a market of 63 million
inhabitants) which is strengthened by the
perspective of joining the EU.
Turkey is
aided both politically and financially by the
international community, but the Kurdish and
Cypriot problems, which remain unsolved, expose the
country to criticism from its allies. The
traditionally tense relations with Greece have
radically improved following the earthquakes which
hit both countries.
With an
improvement in purchasing power for a large part of
the population and by the opening up to European
exports with Union customs agreements, the demand
for consumer goods has gone up and is benefitting
from the developement in the distribution
sector.
Since early
1996 when the customs agreements between the
European Union and Turkey came into effect,
European industrial products (but not agricultural
products) are exempt from duties and taxes when
they enter Turkey. Europe has reduced to zero
customs duties on imported Turkish products since
1974.
The pension
scheme and health and welfare systems were modified
at the end of 1999 to help reduce the public debt
and to halt the high inflation which is such a
handicap to the economy.
Main
Economic Indicators
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1997
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1998
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1999
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2000
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economic
growth (%)
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7.5
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2.8
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-1.5
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6.0
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inflation
(%)
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85.7
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84.6
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65
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44.3
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public
debt/GNP (%)
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-7.9
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-10.2
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-14.5
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-9.0
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exports
(billions $)
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32.6
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31.2
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28.6
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30.0
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imports
(billions $)
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48.0
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45.6
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40.5
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46.1
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balance
of trade (billions $)
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-15.4
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-14.3
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-11.9
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-16.1
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current
balance (billions $)
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-2.6
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1.9
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-1.7
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-5.2
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external
debt (billions $)
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95.5
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102.7
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108.9
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117.0
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of
which is short term debt (billions
$)
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22.6
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25.6
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30.8
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31.3
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debt
charges/exports (%)
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21.0
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27.5
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32.5
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31.9
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General
information
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Gross
National Product 1999
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224.36
billion $
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GNP
per capita
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3480
dollars
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Purchasing
power parity (PPP)
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6300
dollars
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GNP
growth 1990-1997
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+2.3%
per capita per annum
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Household
with PPP +$30000pa
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1
600 000 = 12.5%
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Household
with PPP +$15000pa
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5
790 000 = 45%
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Household
with PPP -$5000 pa
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1
900 000 = 15%
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Aid
1998
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3.781
billion $
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Foreign
investment 1999
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0.760
billion $
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Tourist
revenue 1998
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7.809
billion $
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Division of the GDP by activity sector :
Agriculture : 17.6%
Industry : 16.1%
Mining : 9.4%
Services : 57.0%
Agriculture Essentially orientated towards
the domestic market, Turkish agriculture has a
large and diversified production : wheat, barley,
olives and tea for example are produced for the
consumer market. Tobacco and cotton feed the
industrial market.
The economic significance of agriculture is still
considerable because it employs nearly 40% of the
labour force. However it is not very profitable and
only manages to continue with heavy State
subsidizing.
Industries & mining Important needs in
infrastructure, growth in the tourist sector and
the rapid industrialization founded on the growth
of sectors of processing industries like
foodstuffs, textiles and cars, mean that the
markets for equipment and facilities are also
growing. More precisely, in the following domains :
electricity, textiles, car manufacturing,
foodstuffs and hotels and restaurants.
Turkish industry also represents an important
market for prime materials and semi-finished
products, particularly for chemical and iron and
steel products as well as in certain specialized
sectors (leather, skins, yarns, material).
Textiles remains the main industrial sector, but
car manufacturing is increasing and the foodstuff
sector is very dynamic.
A stabilizing programme, started in 1999, was set
up to organize a more stable environment : Turkish
private industrials are active, but the country
still doesn't have enough foreign investment to
help it to modernize its production on a big enough
scale.
In 2001 the
serious energy problems that Turkey has been going
through should improve. The pumping of Iranian gas
will start in July in spite of American objections.
Azerbaidjan and Georgia should start sharing their
excess electricity with Turkey before the end of
the year.
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