Turkey between economic boom and crisis [Die türkei zwischen wirtschaftlichem boom und krise]

Abstract

Since the turn of the millennium, Turkey has developed into a high-growth economic location that is strongly intertwined with other nations' economies around the world. The aim of this article is to trace the development of Turkey's economic policy from its foundation as a sovereign state in 1923 to the present time, and to examine the effects of the neoliberal economic policy that was implemented in the 1980s on the socio-economic development of the country. The article shows that, on the one hand, the neoliberal economic policy reforms have led to an improvement in living conditions in Turkey, such as a significant reduction in the absolute poverty rate. On the other hand, they have resulted in spatial concentrations of both economic development and the human population in major cities-especially Istanbul. Moreover, these reforms have led to a highly unstable economic model, due to Turkey's comparatively high current account deficit and the associated dependence on foreign capital. As a result, after years of strong economic growth, the Turkish economy has been repeatedly shaken by economic crises, as in 1994,2000/2001, 2008/2009 and 2018. © 2019 Westermann Schulbuchverlag GmbH. All rights reserved.