The Coverment And The Economy

Despite the sometimes violent growing pains suffered by the young Turkish democracy, it has emerged in remarkably good shape. It has a constitution that was overwhelmingly endorsed by the electorate; it has a 450-seat, popularly-elected parliament, the Grand National Assembly; it has an executive president elected by the Assembly who servers one seven-year term; it has a governing party which under Turgut Özal has won two consecutive general elections; abroad, it has excellent diplomatic relations with all countries; at home, it has free, compulsory education, a rapidly-improving public health service, a low crime rate, an expanding economy, a free press, and freedom of religion.

The only dark spot in all this is that the expansion of the conomy has come at a high price: Turkey has a colossal foreign devt and inflation that is currently pushing 75 percent. Of course, such problems are hardly surprising when you consider that what the government is trying to do is nothing less than graft a modern, industrial state on to a medieval agrarian society. What is surprising is the degree of success with which this has been accomplished. Although it is still not uncommon to see the lone peasant squatting in the shade of a tree wathcing his cow and perhaps a couple of sheep grazing, Turkish agriculture as a shole has been transformed into a major earner of foreign exchange. Turkey is already

the world’s largest exporter of hazelnuts, figs, raisins, and Oriental tobacco, and Europe’s largest supplier of wool. Cotton and citrus fruits are also big money-earners. With 40 percent of the country’s total surface now under cultivation, and with a huge dam-building and irrigation program under way, Turkish agriculture should soon be making and even bigger contribution to the country’s economy.

Meanwhile, the goverment has been moving vigorously to develop the country’s industrial base. As might be expected, much of Turkish industry is devoted to the processing of agricultural products and the manufacture of agricultural machinery. The manufacture of textiles, another leading export, also plays a big part. So, increasinlgy, does the manufacture of automobiles. And with Turkey’s abundant resources of chromium, iron, and copper, more emphasis is being placed on the metallurgical industry. The country is even beginning to export its engireering skills along with part of its labor force, and some huge construction deals have recently been signed with several countries. Yet even

with the spectacular progress the economy has made over the past few years, Turkey is still plagued by a chronic unemployment rate that hovers around 20 percent. And this in a country with one of the highest birth rates in the world, and where over hals the population is under 20. The goverment still has its work cut out for it.