Nonmarket Strategy in Turkey

With about 80 million inhabitants, Turkey is the world’s eighteenth most populous nation, comparable in size to fellow NATO ally, Germany (World Bank 2016b). In terms of economic size, Turkey ranks 17, with a GDP of over $863 billion and nearly $25,000 per capita (see Table 11.1). With a score of 65.4 in the Heritage Index, Turkey ranks 58 in economic freedom but only 28 out of 44 European countries. Indeed, economic freedom in Turkey is a complex phenomenon, as the nation scores very well in certain areas, but very poorly in others. Although Turkey is widely considered among the world’s largest and most prosperous countries, consolidation of power in the hands of President Tayyip Erdoğan—elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2018—and political uncertainty associated with a failed coup d’état in 2016 threaten to undercut the nation’s economic progress. While political instability has not yet triggered fiscal instability, government corruption and the politicization of the nation’s court system have substantially undermined the rule of law and have caused considerable angst among potential investors (Miller et al. 2018).