An Extended Study Of The Effects Of The 2008 Global Economic Crisis On Turkish Economy And Her International Relations

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of the September 2008 global financial crisis and global recession on the Turkish economy and the following developments. Turkey was praised for having recovered swiftly from the global economic crisis without aid from the IMF. Only more recently, by about March 2011, at the time of writing this study, some doubts are being raised by sundry representatives of international financial circles as well as rating organizations about the danger of continuously increasing current account deficit. A study of Turkey’s economy against the background of the September 2008 global economic crisis should, therefore, provide an interesting case study.In this study we will cover only the period since 2002 when the present AKP government implemented open economy model, outward orientation and globalization. But, the process of changing development strategy from a closed economy model to market economy and outward orientation, it should be noted here at the outset, had started long ago, since 1980. This strategy was widely expanded later, during the years 1983-89. The last thorough restructuring had been effected in 1999 and 2001, in compliance with the IMF stand-by agreement. These policies were continued with the AKP government that came to power in 2002. After the 2008 global economic crisis, doubts were also raised as to whether Turkey is changing her axis. Part of the recent change in Turkey’s international economic relations was necessitated b the worldwide economic conditions after the global crisis. But there are also political aspects of this question which is a topic of political science rather than economics.