US – EUROPE ANALYSIS SERIES March 16, 2009

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF TURKEY: IN SEARCH OF

STABILITY AMID DOMESTIC AND GLOBAL CRISES
Abdullah Akyüz

INTRODUCTION
by a favorable global environment; structural
The Turkish economy witnessed a boom and reforms implemented thanks to the International
bust cycle in the last decade. The “home Monetary Fund (IMF) program; and the
grown” economic crisis of 2001, which had ongoing EU process will be analyzed. Finally,
devastating repercussions for the economy, the paper will speculate about the current
was followed by a prolonged period of growth global crisis and its implications for the Turkish
and stability. The honeymoon, unfortunately, economy.
did not last too long. It appears that the Turkish
economy is headed toward another period of The paper will conclude with an assessment of
slow growth; this time, as a result of the global the likely repercussions of the current crisis on
financial crisis ignited by the mortgage crisis in the future of the Turkish economy and the
the US. domestic political scene in light of the
upcoming local elections. The impact of the
economic crisis on Turkish foreign policy, with a
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Abdullah Akyüz is special reference to Turkey’s “soft power” in its
the Washington permanent representative region will also be addressed.
of TUSIAD, the Turkish Industrialists’ and
Businessmen’s Association. DOMESTIC CRISIS OF 2001

The views expressed in this paper are the 1. The making of the crisis
author’s and do not necessarily represent
the opinions of TUSIAD. In December 1999 the Turkish government of
the time launched a comprehensive belt –
tightening program with the help of an IMF-
This paper deals with the political economy of supported three-year agreement in order to
Turkey from the domestic crisis of 2001 to the bring down inflation and reduce the already
global crisis of 2008. It will first focus on the unsustainable level of public debt. The
domestic economic crisis of 2001 and explore program appeared to be on course until fall
its roots, its effects on the economy, and finally, 2000 and enjoyed wide public support.
the cure that was implemented. The political However, in November the overall mood
implications of the crisis will also be highlighted. rapidly deteriorated with the emergence of a
Then, the period of rapid recovery, characterized serious crisis. In a matter of days interest rates

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soared, billions of dollars fled the country and regime of free floating exchange rates was
Turkey was faced with exceptionally high costs established. As in most other episodes of
to borrow from abroad. Following a few financial crisis, the now fluctuating Turkish lira
months of relative calm, another crisis erupted witnessed a free-fall, interest rates rose sharply
in February 2001 in the immediate aftermath of and the economy contracted at an
a harsh political quarrel between PM Ecevit unprecedented rate.
and President Sezer.
Kemal Dervis, a vice president of the World
The factors that contributed to the making of Bank and a well known figure in international
2001 crisis, at first sight, appear to be related to financial circles, was given the helm of the
the poor macroeconomic performance. The economy as a non-political/technocratic
public debt to GNP ratio, the current account minister in charge of the economy. The existing
deficit (mostly trade deficit), the inflation rate, three-year IMF agreement was immediately
the interest rates and the ratio of the financial revised and further supported by generous
sector’s debt (relative to official reserves) were additional funding within a few months
all significantly high and therefore worrisome following the February incident. The revised
for most market participants. However, this program aimed at addressing the root causes
would be a mistaken judgment as many of of the crisis by placing government debt
these macroeconomic imbalances had been management at its core. Also, a
addressed by the IMF program that was put comprehensive reform agenda was designed
into effect in December 1999. for the banking sector.

The primary cause of the crisis was in fact the One of the major consequences of the twin
weakness in the banking system and its heavy crises was the rapid erosion in credibility for the
exposure to government debt. Because the governing coalition parties, which held a clear
government needed to finance its debt, majority in the parliament and were already
private banks were heavily borrowing short- troubled by deteriorating support caused by
term and lending to the government long- their perceived inability to govern as well as
term. The circumstances were also highly corrupt practices. In the summer of 2002, at a
complicated for state banks, which were time when the program had yielded some
chronically in the red and were thus heavily positive results, the coalition government risked
dependent on short-term borrowed funds to calling for early elections. Kemal Dervis, who
keep the flow of payments. Finally, one should soon after taking office became the rising star
note that the banking system’s fragility was of Turkish politics, failed to lead a political
essentially driven by the high public sector movement despite the strong winds behind
debt. This debt, in turn, created a massive him. He decided to join the opposition
public sector borrowing requirement. The Republican People’s Party (CHP).
budget deficits were therefore primarily Subsequently, the Justice and Development
financed through issuance of debt securities, Party (AKP), a party established just a year
mainly in the form of treasury bonds. earlier and led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a
former mayor of Istanbul, won the elections in
2. The impact of the crisis and the revision of November 2002, yielding AKP an overwhelming
the IMF program majority in the parliament.

The crisis came in two installments. The first

episode began in November 2000 and the
second in February 2001. The latter ended the
peg of the Turkish lira to the US dollars and a

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PERFORMANCE OF THE ECONOMY IN THE POST- the emergence of China and India as the new
CRISIS PERIOD engines of world growth, declining inflation
rates, and commodity price hikes in Brazil and
The economy has achieved an impressive Russia created a rosy economic environment,
performance starting in 2002. A number of leading many policy makers around the globe
factors contributed to this process. One of to believe that the good times would never
them was the favorable global environment come to an end.
with low global interest rates and the
availability of abundant and cheap funding. 2. Domestic developments
The key domestic component was the
successful implementation of the IMF program Turkey heavily benefited from this favorable
not only by Kemal Dervis, its principal architect, global climate while also addressing many of its
but also by the AKP Government. Finally, the structural weaknesses as part of the ongoing
high morale and stability that came with the IMF backed program. The program has led to
progress made toward EU membership was some significant progress in terms of
also instrumental in achieving a remarkable undertaking major reforms to address structural
success in some specific areas such as issues, reducing inflation while maintaining
attracting foreign direct investments. fiscal discipline. These steps led to major
improvements in the macro economic
1. The global framework situation.

The global economic environment remained Turkey took major strides to combat high,
highly favorable throughout the period 2002- chronic inflation and brought it down from 70%
2007. The key characteristic of this period was to a single digit level within a short time span.
the very low level of interest rates in most This was possible with the implementation of
industrial countries. Real interest rates also sound economic policies such as tight
remained low in this period because inflation monetary and fiscal policies. Also, the new
rates were kept under control to a great independence of the Central Bank helped that
extent. One of the implications of low interest institution break the inflationary cycles of the
rates was that borrowing costs for emerging past, and brought credibility to the overall
markets were slashed considerably, and this policy framework. These new dynamics played
led to a substantial surge in the financial flows a crucial role in bringing Turkish inflation down
to emerging markets. This ease in external to historically low levels.
funding led Turkish borrowers, mainly
corporations, to borrow from international The economy grew strongly out of the slump.
markets. The Turkish lira also appreciated The average growth rate was 6.8% from 2002
considerably during this period, making and 2007, well above Turkey’s long-term
external borrowing even more attractive. Total average of 4.5%. Recovery and growth
external borrowing surged three fold, from $33 processes were driven mainly by the flexibility
billion in 2002 to $97 billion in 2007. The other and dynamism of the Turkish economy, as well
implication of low interest rates over such a as the tangible improvement in confidence
long period in industrialized economies was the and expectations. Export growth, in particular,
constant rise in equities and real estate, which responded well to this realignment process.
eventually created the bubble that led to the Over just five years, Turkey’s exports grew from
mortgage crisis in the US. $36 billion in 2002 to $107 billion in 2007, an
average annual growth of 15%.
Moreover, high global growth rates, rapidly
increasing international trade and investments,

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Fiscal balances improved visibly over the same restructured to pave the way to their ultimate
period. Fiscal discipline helped bring the privatization.
budget deficit to 1.6% in 2007 from 17% in 2001.
This was achieved by bringing the budget 3. Unaddressed major issues
balance to a surplus of 5.3% of GNP by the end
of 2003, and by maintaining a relatively high Despite the impressive progress achieved
surplus throughout the period. Turkey’s debt through the IMF-backed program, a number of
dynamics reacted favorably to the visible key structural issues remained unresolved. The
improvement in macroeconomic and financial political and social implications of these
fundamentals. Real interest rates halved and colossal issues led the AKP government to
Turkey began to qualify for long-term postpone addressing their root causes. In other
borrowing. As is commonly known, Turkey words, AKP fell short of extending and
incurred heavy financial losses during the 2000- deepening the reform process:
2001 financial crises. The subsequent • Even though the stabilization of the
rehabilitation of the banking sector (both economy was essentially achieved, the
public and private) cost roughly 30% of GNP. second stage, micro reforms that
Consequently, Turkey’s net public debt to GNP should follow such macro reforms were
ratio went up from 50% in 2000 to 92% in 2001. never formulated and put forward.
Since then, however, debt ratios have • The actions to simplify the tax system, to
improved steadily. Owing much to solid primary broaden the tax base and improve the
surplus generation, the stability of the local tax administration have never fully
currency and strong growth, Turkey managed materialized despite repeated promises.
to pull the public debt to GNP ratio to 74% in • Combating the informal economy has
2002 and further down to 39% in 2007. not been given any serious attention.
The relatively large size of the informal
The improvement in Turkey’s macro economic economy keeps hindering competition
and financial fundamentals took place as a and discouraging foreign direct
result of extensive structural reforms. First and investments in addition to reducing tax
foremost the banking sector was overhauled revenues.
and strengthened. Second, the Central Bank • A comprehensive reform of the judicial
was granted full independence. Third, system was never implemented.
important steps were taken to improve public
resource management processes. Finally, key GLOBAL CRISIS OF 2008
structural measures were instituted in a way as
to consolidate the market process at large. In The global crisis surfaced at a time when the
this context, independent regulatory authorities Turkish economy was already showing signs of
were established and agricultural markets were changing direction from its earlier path, as
de-regulated. Indirect agricultural subsidies, demonstrated by a slowing economic activity
which distorted the market incentive structure since the second half of 2006 and rising
and put pressure on fiscal balances, were unemployment. The lowest quarterly growth
largely eliminated. New legislation that would since 2002 was recorded in the third quarter of
help encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) 2008 (0.5%). The non-agricultural unemployment
was introduced. Important steps were taken to rate surged to 14.0% in 2008 from 12.6% in the
further liberalize energy markets. A new previous two years. The fact that the Turkish
bankruptcy bill was enacted to enhance financial system and banks were immune from
contract enforcement, which was a must for the risky derivatives business — in addition to
instituting an efficient market economy. Public being highly capitalized and closely supervised
banks (Ziraat, Halk and Vakıf) have been — saved Turkey from the initial waves of the

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subprime toxic assets tsunami. This, however, production temporarily. The last important
led the AKP government to believe that this impact is expected to be a major drop in
was only a “financial” crisis and limited to foreign direct investments, which surged to
banks and economies with exposure to such average $18 billion per annum during the
risky derivative instruments. The trade, finance period 2005-2007. The FDI estimates for 2009
and growth aspects of the global recession, were revised to $6 billion from $12-15 billion.
the liquidity crunch and the overall impact of
the global financial crisis on the real economy While all of the above areas indicate a
was not properly understood. worsening in the financing of the current
account deficit, there is some good news that
1. How does the global crisis affect the Turkish should be taken into account as well. The first
economy? will be a declining oil bill. Thanks to a significant
drop in oil prices and decreasing economic
The crisis, coupled with already declining levels activity, the oil costs will be substantially lower
of domestic consumption, has already started in 2009. Also positive will be the waning current
taking a toll. More pain is likely to be felt in account deficit, as imports also will drop as a
2009, a year in which the crisis will increasingly consequence of slowing exports and lessening
hit non-financial sectors around the world. Even domestic demand.
though the Turkish economy is in much better
shape than many emerging economies, the 2. How does the AKP cope with the crisis?
crisis will still be felt through three main
channels: Until recently, the AKP government opted to
ignore the impact of the global economic crisis
First, there is likely to be decline in external on the Turkish economy and severely jeopardized
funding in the face of growing risk aversion and prospects for 2009. While a proactive response
disruptions in global credit markets. External to such crises is expected from policy makers,
borrowing at relatively low interest rates at a the AKP government first ignored it and then
time when the Turkish lira was continually tried to convince market participants that it
appreciating had become one of the engines would have minimal impact on the economy.
of growth throughout the last five years. Out of As a result, the government failed to take the
nearly $167 billion in private debt, $45 billion in necessary actions to restore confidence and
redemptions is expected in 2009. Turkish facilitate the proper functioning of the credit
borrowers are not likely to face lenders as markets. Also, the government hesitated for a
receptive as those they had gotten used to. long time to sign a new standby agreement
Therefore, a strain on Central Bank reserves is with the IMF, fearing that it would impose fiscal
likely to be seen in 2009. However, the fact that discipline prior to the local elections. However,
the average maturity of debt is around 3.5 year considering the dramatic loss of confidence
is a relief since the entire pressure will not be felt observed among consumers and investors, the
in the coming year. government recently decided that the political
cost of a non-agreement would be higher than
Exports are going to be the most hard-hit area that of an agreement, and it has made a
and deterioration will continue even though compromise to sign a pact with the IMF.
Turkey’s exports are relatively well diversified in
terms of composition and destination. Already, CONCLUDING REMARKS
the exports from the automotive sector, which
had become the engine of Turkish exports over With a GNP of $655 billion (2007), per capita
the last few years, and of durable goods were income of $9,500 (2007), a population of over
severely hit, and some factories ceased 70 million, high growth rates, and a substantially

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improved political and economic climate in AKP’s rising popularity over the last six years has
the wake of the 2001 crisis, Turkey stands as a been strongly supported by the impressive
central player in a troubled region. The market- economic growth, increase in per capita
driven and highly diversified Turkish economy income and improvements in income
has become over time a fundamental distribution. A reversal, however limited, in this
component of a maturing democracy in a trend will definitely have political implications
region characterized by former Soviet for the governing party. One has to recall that
countries, monarchies and/or single-product this remarkable performance has been
(oil) based economies trying to survive in an achieved not only by AKP’s own competence
increasingly global, open and competitive but also the favorable global environment and
world. The economic aspects of Turkey’s the positive climate created by twin anchors of
growing soft power in the region is often the EU and IMF. It seems that, this time around,
unnoticed or underestimated. Exponentially the picture looks entirely different. One of these
increasing trade volumes between Turkey and favorable elements, global environment, has
its neighbors, significant Turkish investments and been the main driver of the events that
huge construction projects undertaken by sparked the crisis in Turkey. The other two
Turkish companies in surrounding countries, and external factors, EU and IMF, are not currently
the development of some neighboring in the picture in a forceful way. But, an
countries into de facto hinterlands of the Turkish agreement with the IMF may bring one of them
economy, are evidence of the role the Turkish back in a positive fashion.
economy plays in its region.
However, the fact that, in the Turkish context,
However, this rather bright picture might be the crisis is unfolding primarily in the real sector,
blurred as a result of the ongoing global crisis, might minimize the immediate damage since
which is likely to produce some undesired elections are only one month away, and a
consequences for the country’s economic and severe deterioration in economic indicators by
political stability. The global crisis initially was then is highly unlikely. Nevertheles, even if we
not felt in Turkey given the robust state of the assume that an agreement will be reached
financial sector. But, it has added new and with the IMF shortly, the persistence of the crisis,
tricky uncertainties to the already troubled especially a possible acceleration, will surely
growth prospects. Consequently, negative provide a suitable climate for the opposition to
trends in the growth and unemployment rates exploit. The AKP government’s skillfulness in
are already being felt and with it a deterioration handling the crisis and the extent to which
in the overall mood. Shrinking external funding global efforts will reverse the trend remain to
and decreasing exports are going to be the be seen. One thing, though, is clear: that AKP,
most immediate effects felt by Turkish which owes its election victory in 2002 to the
companies. Abundant external funding and collapse of the economy under the previous
rising exports have been crucial in stimulating coalition government and was tested politically
high growth rates in the last five years. Also, on several occasions over the last six years, is
foreign direct investments that were one of the going to confront its first major economic crisis
main sources of hard currency in the last three test. Unfortunately, their performance so far in
years are likely to dip in the near future. dealing with the early signs of the crisis has not
been promising for their future actions.
Depending on the pace of deterioration in the
economy, local elections in March 2009 might This crisis might have ramifications for Turkey’s
lead to a relatively unfavorable political international relations as well. Turkey’s relations
outcome for the governing AKP, despite the with the EU might become even more
lack of a credible party in the opposition ranks. complicated at a time when European

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economies are going through a recession. Also, FURTHER READING
dealing with the crisis will likely consume much
of the energies of both European and Turkish Akyuz, Y. and K. Boratav (2002): “The Making of
governments in the near term. Another Turkish Financial Crisis”, Paper presented at a
difficulty may arise with Russia, which is one of conference on “Financialization of the Global
Turkey’s most important trading partners. The Economy”, PERI, University of Massachusetts,
political understanding and cooperation that December 7-9, Amherst, MA.
were facilitated by the enhanced economic http://www.bagimsizsosyalbilimciler.org/yazilar/
activity might not be acheivable in the AkyuzBoratav.htm
foreseable future. The crisis, though, should
have no significant bearing upon the regional Gursel, S. (2008): “The AKP’s IMF Dilemma as the
power role Turkey has been enjoying for some Economy Stagnates and Elections Approach”,
time. As the crisis is going to hit nearly all TUSIAD-US,
economies of the region, including oil and raw http://www.tusiad.us/Content/uploaded/SEYFE
material exporters such as Russia, Iran and TTIN%20GURSEL%20DEC%202008.PDF
others, Turkey’s relative economic strength
might not be jeopardized. Moreover, the Lesser, I. (2008): “Turkey and the Global
diversified nature of the economy may even Economic Crisis”, GMFUS,
lead to a faster recovery and secure Turkey a http://www.gmfus.org//doc/Lesser_Turkey_Ana
relatively better position in the aftermath of the lysis_EconomicCrisis_Final1.pdf
crisis provided that the AKP government acts
swiftly and wisely. Mussa, M. (2004): “Global Economic Prospects:
Bright for 2004 but with Questions Thereafter”,
Paper presented at “Global Economic
Forecasts”, IIE, April 1, Washington, DC
ABOUT CUSE: http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/pape
r.cfm?ResearchID=205
Europe is currently undergoing a profound
transformation in terms of its leadership,
the composition of its population, the Ozatay, F. and G. Sak (2002): “Banking Sector
expansion of memberships in the European Fragility and Turkey’s 2000-01 Crisis”, To be
Union and NATO, changing relations with published in Brookings Trade Forum: 2002, eds:
key countries like France, Turkey, and S. M. Collins and D. Rodrik.
Russia, and a regained willingness to http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/research/discus/dpap
address global challenges. In April 2004, er68.pdf
Brookings launched the Center on the
United States and Europe (CUSE) to
understand these challenges and their Sak, G. (2001): “Whither Turkey”, Privateview,
relevance to U.S. foreign policy. The Center Summer 2001, No 10, 34-38.
offers an ongoing forum for research, high-
level dialogue, and public debate on issues Yildirim, S. (2001): “Anatomy of a Crisis”,
affecting U.S.-Europe relations. Privateview, Summer 2001, No 10, 26-32.

The Brookings Institution

Center on the United States and Europe
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
www.brookings.edu/cuse

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