Economy
Turkey, the 18th largest economy in the world in 2015, has experienced almost uninterrupted growth over the past 25 years. At the heart of the ‘Vision 2023’, which sets out the government’s medium-term projects, lies the goal of bringing Turkey among the top ten economies in the world by 2023, the year of the centenary of the foundation of the Republic. Until the 1980s, in a context of mixed economy, the state played an important role, by controlling infrastructures, basic industries and public enterprises. After the 1980s, a process of liberalization and privatization of the economy began – for example in heavy industry and telecommunications – and today the private sector plays a preponderant role. Since the 1960s the manufacturing industry, mainly privately owned, it is the engine of the economy and contributes significantly to economic growth. The tertiary sector accounts for approximately 64% ofGDP and is mainly based on tourism (almost 38 million tourists reached Turkey in 2013, the sixth country in the world for flow of visitors), but also on the financial sector. The most industrialized areas are that of Marmara, which includes Istanbul, Ízmit and Bursa and which produces a third of the national GDP ; the Ízmir region, the Adana-MersinÍskenderun triangle and the capital area. In the 2000s, growth was sustained. The global economic crisis had repercussions on the economy (-4.7% in 2009), but a strong recovery was already recorded in 2010. Since 2012, the pace of the Turkish economy has started to slow down, registering an average annual growth of around 3%, a rate almost halved compared to 5% in the previous decade.
Turkey mainly exports textiles, base metals, transport equipment (motor vehicles) and agri-food products, while it imports chemicals, energy resources and machinery. The trade balance, negative by about 80 billion dollars, is one of the weaknesses of the economic system, mainly due to energy imports. Western Europe, and in particular Germany, is traditionally the largest partner for Turkish exports. On the import side, Russia is a key partner for energy supplies, while China is the second country from which Turkey imports, ahead of Germany and the other EU countries. Exchanges with the Middle East have also been significant in recent years.
Energy and environment
According to indexdotcom, Turkey imports more than 90% of its oil and gas and dependence from imports is bound to increase in tandem with economic growth. Energy demand is estimated to double by 2023. To ensure energy security, the Turkish government is therefore implementing a dual strategy. On the internal side, it promotes the rationalization of consumption and the development of renewable energy sources – hydroelectric, solar geothermal and nuclear – with the aim of doubling the energy produced from renewables by 2023, which today satisfies just over 10% of the primary annual requirement. At the same time, on the external side, Turkey is pursuing a strong policy of diversifying the origin of imports. Although poor in energy resources, Turkey is located in the immediate vicinity of the regions with the greatest oil and gas production in the Eurasian area – from the Middle East to the Persian Gulf, from the Caspian to Central Asia. Objective of the national energy strategy is therefore to become the hub for the distribution of hydrocarbons at the gates of Europe and thus diversify the supply routes, reduce the costs of importing energy (through the gains deriving from transit taxes) and, not secondarily, deepen its strategic value towards European interlocutors.
The country thus became a crossroads of international oil pipelines: the Kirkuk-Ceyhan from Iraq and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan from Azerbaijan, via Georgia. The first has been operational since 1977 and is of particular importance for Iraq and for the Kurdish regional government, which has a great interest in strengthening its ties with Turkey with a view to developing its energy potential, both in terms of investments and transport. towards western markets. The second has been operational since 2006 and represents an important route for the international oil market from the Caspian region (and Kazakhstan). It can carry around 1.2 million barrels per day, but that capacity could be expanded. Finally, the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline,
As for gas, Turkey imports mainly from Russia (through a gas pipeline that passes through Bulgaria and the Blue Stream, which crosses the Black Sea), from Iran (Tabriz-Ankara gas pipeline) and from Azerbaijan (Baku gas pipeline). Tbilisi-Erzurum). In recent years, Turkey has also equipped itself with methane regasification plants, which allow it to import gas in liquefied form from non-neighboring producers (Algeria, Nigeria, Qatar and Egypt). Alongside the possibility of increasing import capacity from the south, the main project for increasing imports and the flow of re-exports to Europe is the Transanatolian gas pipeline, set up in agreement with Azerbaijan, which could allow import from Caspian 16 Gmc / aof gas – six for internal consumption and ten for export to the Eu. The government is also planning to build two more gas pipelines from Russia and one from Iraq.
Turkish CO 2 emissions have more than doubled since the 1990s and are expected to continue to increase, also due to the growing demand for energy. Turkey has been a party to the Climate Change Convention since 2004 and the Kyoto Protocol since 2009, but as a rapidly developing economy with low per capita emissions, it has not set a quantitative limit for reducing emissions.
