Turkey and North Africa
Turkey one of the world's newly industrialized countries. It is among the world's leading producers of agricultural products; textiles; motor vehicles, ships and other transportation equipment; construction materials; consumer electronics and home appliances.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Turkey-and-Nort...
In recent years, Turkey had a rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in industry, banking, transport, and communications.
Turkey is a founding member of the OECD (1961) and one of the G-20 major economies (1999). Since December 31, 1995, Turkey is also a part of the EU Customs Union.It has the second largest army in Nato.
Whilst Turkey has faced difficulties because of the world financial crisis, The Economist points out that in many ways Turkey has weathered the credit crunch better than other emerging economies. Partly thanks to tough regulation, not a single Turkish bank has gone under. That is also because, unlike many Western banks, they have few toxic assets and limited mortgage exposure. So the government has not had to divert public money into rescuing banks.
Turkey has a large agriculture sector and has been self sufficient for food since the 1980's had has many companies that are experts in water technology. it is strong in electronics and home appliances and Turkish brands like Beko and Vestel are among the largest producers of consumer electronics and home appliances in Europe. Other major sectors are textiles and clothing,construction,motor vehicles and autoparts,armaments,
shipbuilding ,steel and communications. Turkey's banking sector remains strong and the largest companies include Garanti Bankası,Koc Holdings,Akbank,Sabanci holdings,Turkcell,Turk Telecoms ,Dogan Holdings amongts others and Turkey has oil and gas though it is not self sufficient in energy supplies. By any standards Turkey is a major economic power and a strong independent ally for North Africa standing as it does between East and West.
The visit of Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Edine El Otmane this week is part of the ongoing exchanges between Turkey and the Maghreb and recent visits by both Prime Minister Erdogan and President Gul to Tunisia and Libya have capatilised on deep cultural links going back to the Ottoman empire and shared religious links. At first as the Arab Spring began Turkey was unsure on how to respond . Like other world powers Turkey had strong connections with the old regimes and had to adjust to new situations. The result has on the whole been extremely successful.
In an article for the Carnegie Endowment Foundation Henri J. Barkey highlights Turkey's gradual awakening to the potential of the Arab Spring in North Africa. Intial hesitancy gave way to active support and Prime Minister Erdogan called for Mubarak to step down. Turkey's independent position and successful developement of its democracy with the islamic AK Party won it wide admiration as did its opposition to Israel. Prime Minsiter Erdogan's dynamism also opened doors to Turkish trade. "Turkey is an important commercial power, but its economic well-being is largely dependent on exports. This means that when Turkey designs its foreign policy, it has to be mindful of its commercial interests and investments." writes Henri J. Barkey.
It has pushed for trading blocks and greater cohesion and has achieved considerable success. Turkey faced a serious crisis during the Libyan war against Gadaffi's forces because it had 25,000 Turkish workers in Libya which it had to evacuate and billions of dollars worth of investments in the construction and hydrocarbons sectors all of them with the Gaddafi regime. Erdogan hestitated to back a Nato no fire zone which went down badly in Benghazi although he came round to supporting it and calling for Gaddafi to go. Restablishing Turkish projects in Libya remains a challenge and Turkey's burgeoning relationship with Tunisia as a base for supplying its Libyan operations can only help Turkey's situation with Libya. Certainly the Libyan experience has probably influenced Turkey's policy towards Syria and the diplomatic support of Moroco and Tunisia has undoubtely brought them closer together. Turkey is determined to support democracy and not the Syrian regime and there is no uncertainty as with the initial Libyan situation The Syrian conflict has alarming potential for regional escalation which directly impacts on Turkey.
Some commenators have observed that the Arab Spring in North Africa, unlike the fall of Communisim which could turn to Nato and the West, lacks a clear role model. Turkey of any country perhaps comes closest to fulfilling this role. However,Turkey's prosperity is the result of reforms in the 1980's which took time. The North African countries do not have this amount of time to develop. The A K party won its elections because of excellent party organisation and popular support. It faced opposition but overcame it, particulalry a succession of accident prone generals. Secular fear that the AK party would initiate islamic fundamentalism into a fiercely secular state have not become reality, although some fears remain. Erdogan is no doubt watching the Algerian elections due on 10 May with interest.
The message that an islamic government such as Turkey does not need to lead to conflict between islamic and secular elements in society is a crucially important one for Egypt, Libya and Tunisia although their moderate islamic parties are clearly tying to emulate Turkey's success.Turkey's islam has always been more moderate and state controlled than most countries in the Middle East. Turkey's success in managing its democracy has been an inspiration to the islamic parties in North Africa and has given it undoubted diplomatic cachet in the region. It is seen as a power for good and its successful businessmen are admired. It has also been able to master both the US/EU access and the Arab world which gives it added diplomatic strength. It faces the Kurdish problem and neighbours such as Syria,Lebanon,Israel, Iraq,Palestine and Iran which are all potentially volatile and interlinked. The time of wait and see as the Arab Spring began is now well and truly over and Turkey needs to work actively with all the governments in the region to ensure a stable future for all.
Turkey is a founding member of the OECD (1961) and one of the G-20 major economies (1999). Since December 31, 1995, Turkey is also a part of the EU Customs Union.It has the second largest army in Nato.
Whilst Turkey has faced difficulties because of the world financial crisis, The Economist points out that in many ways Turkey has weathered the credit crunch better than other emerging economies. Partly thanks to tough regulation, not a single Turkish bank has gone under. That is also because, unlike many Western banks, they have few toxic assets and limited mortgage exposure. So the government has not had to divert public money into rescuing banks.
Turkey has a large agriculture sector and has been self sufficient for food since the 1980's had has many companies that are experts in water technology. it is strong in electronics and home appliances and Turkish brands like Beko and Vestel are among the largest producers of consumer electronics and home appliances in Europe. Other major sectors are textiles and clothing,construction,motor vehicles and autoparts,armaments,
shipbuilding ,steel and communications. Turkey's banking sector remains strong and the largest companies include Garanti Bankası,Koc Holdings,Akbank,Sabanci holdings,Turkcell,Turk Telecoms ,Dogan Holdings amongts others and Turkey has oil and gas though it is not self sufficient in energy supplies. By any standards Turkey is a major economic power and a strong independent ally for North Africa standing as it does between East and West.
The visit of Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Edine El Otmane this week is part of the ongoing exchanges between Turkey and the Maghreb and recent visits by both Prime Minister Erdogan and President Gul to Tunisia and Libya have capatilised on deep cultural links going back to the Ottoman empire and shared religious links. At first as the Arab Spring began Turkey was unsure on how to respond . Like other world powers Turkey had strong connections with the old regimes and had to adjust to new situations. The result has on the whole been extremely successful.
In an article for the Carnegie Endowment Foundation Henri J. Barkey highlights Turkey's gradual awakening to the potential of the Arab Spring in North Africa. Intial hesitancy gave way to active support and Prime Minister Erdogan called for Mubarak to step down. Turkey's independent position and successful developement of its democracy with the islamic AK Party won it wide admiration as did its opposition to Israel. Prime Minsiter Erdogan's dynamism also opened doors to Turkish trade. "Turkey is an important commercial power, but its economic well-being is largely dependent on exports. This means that when Turkey designs its foreign policy, it has to be mindful of its commercial interests and investments." writes Henri J. Barkey.
It has pushed for trading blocks and greater cohesion and has achieved considerable success. Turkey faced a serious crisis during the Libyan war against Gadaffi's forces because it had 25,000 Turkish workers in Libya which it had to evacuate and billions of dollars worth of investments in the construction and hydrocarbons sectors all of them with the Gaddafi regime. Erdogan hestitated to back a Nato no fire zone which went down badly in Benghazi although he came round to supporting it and calling for Gaddafi to go. Restablishing Turkish projects in Libya remains a challenge and Turkey's burgeoning relationship with Tunisia as a base for supplying its Libyan operations can only help Turkey's situation with Libya. Certainly the Libyan experience has probably influenced Turkey's policy towards Syria and the diplomatic support of Moroco and Tunisia has undoubtely brought them closer together. Turkey is determined to support democracy and not the Syrian regime and there is no uncertainty as with the initial Libyan situation The Syrian conflict has alarming potential for regional escalation which directly impacts on Turkey.
Some commenators have observed that the Arab Spring in North Africa, unlike the fall of Communisim which could turn to Nato and the West, lacks a clear role model. Turkey of any country perhaps comes closest to fulfilling this role. However,Turkey's prosperity is the result of reforms in the 1980's which took time. The North African countries do not have this amount of time to develop. The A K party won its elections because of excellent party organisation and popular support. It faced opposition but overcame it, particulalry a succession of accident prone generals. Secular fear that the AK party would initiate islamic fundamentalism into a fiercely secular state have not become reality, although some fears remain. Erdogan is no doubt watching the Algerian elections due on 10 May with interest.
The message that an islamic government such as Turkey does not need to lead to conflict between islamic and secular elements in society is a crucially important one for Egypt, Libya and Tunisia although their moderate islamic parties are clearly tying to emulate Turkey's success.Turkey's islam has always been more moderate and state controlled than most countries in the Middle East. Turkey's success in managing its democracy has been an inspiration to the islamic parties in North Africa and has given it undoubted diplomatic cachet in the region. It is seen as a power for good and its successful businessmen are admired. It has also been able to master both the US/EU access and the Arab world which gives it added diplomatic strength. It faces the Kurdish problem and neighbours such as Syria,Lebanon,Israel, Iraq,Palestine and Iran which are all potentially volatile and interlinked. The time of wait and see as the Arab Spring began is now well and truly over and Turkey needs to work actively with all the governments in the region to ensure a stable future for all.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Turkey-and-Nort...