Economic Activity and Prospects of Turkey

Economic Activity:

Nearly forty per­cent of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, accounting for about one-sixth of the nation’s overall economic output. But much of the land is unsuited to cultiva­tion; only a third of it is classed as arable.

Considerable progress in the expansion of cultivable land has been made since the promulgation of land reforms by the revo­lutionary government after World War II yet the agricultural sector did not keep- pace with other sectors of the economy. Agriculture was no longer the dominant occupation that traditionally it had been. Most of the country is mountainous, and even on the interior plateaus neither cli­mate nor soils are conducive to large scale agricultural activity.

In keeping with the large range of climatic, soils, and landscapes of the country, there is considerable variety in crops grown. Cereals, however, occupy a predominant position, accounting for over three-fourths of the cultivated land. Wheat is by far the most important crop grown on most of the cultivable land, particularly on the drier, interior plateau.

The produc­tivity is generally low, but the total production volume harvested is substan­tial: in average years, Turkey ranks seventh or eighth in the world. Barley, oats, rye, and maize, are other cereal crops grown in sizable amounts. The country is a world leader in production of barley (eighth).

Rice cultivation is gaining in im­portance on the Aegean and Mediterranean coastal lowlands where pre­cipitation is greater and soil and topographic conditions more favorable. Like other nations of Southwest Asia, Tur­key was a wheat importer until the 1930s, but now is not only self-sufficient but has a modest surplus for exports. Beside food grain crops, Turkey is an important pro­ducer of several commercial crops, such as tobacco, cotton, oil seeds, hazel nuts (world’s leader), and a variety of Mediter­ranean crops such as olives, figs, and grapes.

Turkey is particularly famous for its fruits (apples and citrus fruits) which find a ready export market. Livestock also forms an important part of the country’s agricultural economy. Sheep and goats are the most numerous and widely distrib­uted. The country ranks high (fifth) in the world in its livestock population. Animal products are essentially consumed on firms or in nearby villages, and some are available for export.

Agriculturally, the most important ar­eas are the coastal plains and valleys along and near the Aegean Sea, Sea of Marmara, and the Black Sea where Mediterranean crops such as hazel nuts, grapes for Sultana raisins (Turkey is the world’s leader), cit­rus fruits, figs, and tobacco are grown in addition to the cereal crops of wheat and barley.

The Black Sea coastland is, how­ever, regionally important for corn, legumes, and sugar beets as well, for it re­ceives heavier precipitation, a condition more conducive to the growth of these crops. The Plateau produces considerable wheat and barley, hides and skins, and wool, including mohair from the Angora goat which is used in the making of high- quality rugs and fabrics.

Mineral resources of Turkey are po­tentially significant but not exploited on a large scale. It has limited oil, mostly along the Iraq border inhabited largely by the troublesome Kurds, and exploitation is hampered by difficult terrain, and most of country’s needs are met by imports. Since oil accounts for nearly 11 percent of the nation’s imports, it is a major drain on the national treasury.

The steep price increases of the 1970s had a devastating effect on the Turkish economy as the government had to borrow heavily to finance the fast devel­oping industrial sector. Modest amounts of coal and iron are mined, although reserves are sufficient to meet Turkey’s needs for several decades. Coal is a major mineral re­source, and its deposits lie on the Black Sea coast between Eregli and Zonguldak.

The iron ore deposits located at Divrigi are modest but of fairly high-grade quality. In addition, extensive fields of chrome and some of manganese are also found. Hydro­electric potentials are considerable and receiving attention by the government in view of the rapidly expanding industrial sector.

Most of the country’s modern indus­try is in the early stages of development. Under the Ottomans much of it was in the form of handicrafts, such as the making of world-famous rugs, brassware, and woolen and cotton fabrics. Since the early 1930s the republic has attempted to industrialize the country in a hurry, without laying the basic foundations.

Development has been hampered by a lack of capital, competition with foreign goods, and underdeveloped technology, and the country’s overall poor infrastructure. The government’s policy of state control of several industries, and re­pression of the experienced and skilled labor of minority groups (most of whom left for the western European countries) further aggravated the problem.

The predominant industries include textiles, processing of agricultural goods, and manufacture of cement, consumer goods, and assembly of imported components for vehicles. Iron and steel, electric and elec­tronic equipment and transport equipment account for one-third of all imports, and these must be imported to feed the grow­ing domestic industry.

The iron and steel industry is largely state owned; the major plant is located at Karabuk in the north­west. Coal comes from the nearby Black Sea fields, but the ore has to travel 500 miles by rail. Cement plants are located in the Istanbul area, and near Ankara.

The textile industry is more wide­spread, manufacturing a wide variety of cotton textiles, woolen and silk fabrics, and internationally known Turkish car­pets. The country has a sizable sugar industry based entirely on the domestic production of beets. It has grown impres­sively since the 1930s, when the country had to import most of its needs. By 1946 the nation had become self-sufficient, and since then has had a small surplus for ex­port.

Industrial development has been partly hampered by inadequate transport sys­tems, although since the 1930s the republican administration has embarked upon a plan of extending the roads and railroads, but most of the mineral produc­ing areas still remain poorly linked with the industrializing centers. There is only a little over 5,200 miles (8,372 km) of rail­road track, and the length of the paved roads is close to 270,000 miles (434,400 km).

Predictably, the major exports of the country are: textiles which account for one-third of all exports; agricultural prod­ucts (wheat, olives, cotton, fruits, and processed foods), and iron and steel. Chief imports consist of machinery (electrical, electronic equipment, transport equip­ment) and oil. The major trading partners are Germany, U.S.A., Italy, Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, U.S.S.R., and Japan.

Turkey’s current population, esti­mated to be close to 65 million, has grown nearly three times during the last four dec­ades. A little over 64 percent of it is classified as urban, of which 80 percent is located in the coastal lowlands, particu­larly along the Aegean and Black Seas, and the Sea of Marmara. Parts of the dry inte­rior of the Anatolia Plateau and the mountainous area in the east are b empty (average density for the Anit; Plateau is only 25 people to a sq mile).

The cities, such as Ankara, Izmir and Istanbul, have grown rapidly since World “War II with the greatest massive rural migration to Istanbul, which is by far largest of these. Istanbul (8 million) been a major trading port since the century B.C. Founded by the Greeks 658 B.C., it was selected as a capital of eastern Roman Empire in the 4th century A.D. by Emperor Constantine, who the city his name.

For several centuries’s was the capital of such impressive empires as the Byzantine and the Ottoman, and later of the Turkish Republic until a new capital at Ankara was founded. As an im­perial capital of multinational empires, Constantinople became a cosmopolitan city of Latinos, Slavs, Greeks, Turks, Ar­menians, and Jews.

In 1923 the revolutionary government moved the capi­tal to Ankara, a more central location in the Anatolia Plateau, as Istanbul was con­sidered too cosmopolitan and too vulnerable militarily. The city’s location commands the Turkish Straits, the passage­way that connects the Mediterranean with the Black Sea, and has historically acted as a bridgehead for land routes between Europe and Asia.

Istanbul has long been the cultural and commercial center of the country. “With most of its commercial activity focused on the Golden Horn, a deep water and natu­ral harbor, the city handles three-fourths of Turkey’s external trade. The city has ac­quired a sizable industrial component, specializing in the manufacture of textiles, metal and glassware, and leather goods.

Capitalizing on its agreeable climate, a vast array of cultural and historic sites, its commercial and industrial importance and easy accessibility, Istanbul has been one of the leading tourist attractions in Southwest Asia. Ankara (3 million), the national capital and the second largest city, has grown rapidly since acquiring adminis­trative functions, from a small, interior town with its 1923 population of only 50,000.

The city is a major railroad and transport center in the heart of the nation, and has attracted a few industries. Izmir (2 million) is the third largest city and a ma­jor port of western Turkey on the Aegean coast. It has an excellent natural harbor, and handles nearly a sixth of the country’s foreign trade.

Prospects:

As Turkey moves towards a new century, the nation faces severe eco­nomic problems, although the over-all economic prospects appear reasonably good. Unlike some of it more fortunate neighbors, the country possesses only lim­ited reserves of oil, but is well supplied with coal, lignite, chrome, iron, copper, and some other metals, most of which re­main under-utilized.

Except for steel, heavy industry has had little development, concentrated only in a few locations. But an extensive, still largely untapped, re­source for the development of hydro­electric power exists. Despite the nation’s preeminence in several agricultural prod­ucts, productivity, in general, remains low.

Economic development is hampered, not entirely by a deficiency in basic resources, but by a weak industrial base inherited from the decadent Ottoman period, a mounting foreign debt (running currently around $48 billion in the mid-1980s) to fi­nance the expanding industrial sector, and infrastructural deficiency.

In measuring Turkey’s assets, how­ever, one cannot overlook several of the nation’s assets. Ethnically, it has a rela­tively homogeneous population, and politically, the democratic and secular tra­ditions have been more or less securely laid (there have been feeble stirrings of funda­mentalism in the country recently).

But perhaps the greatest asset of the country is its location. Turkey’s command over the Straits has made it one of the key powers in the East Mediterranean. As an ally of the European nations, it has been able to enhance its economic and military posi­tion substantially.