Country Profile

Many have hailed Turkey’s growth over the past decade, and for good reason. The country averaged expansion of 5.4% between 2003 and 2013, one of the highest rates in the world. This was accompanied by drops in unemployment and poverty, as well as gains in school enrolment, home ownership and life expectancy. Since 2013, however, there has been a sharpening of disagreement over the direction of Turkey’s development and the role of its leaders and institutions, and the political discourse in early 2015 was dominated by the run-up to parliamentary elections in June.

This chapter contains a viewpoint from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.