TÜRK SİYASETİ - Deneme Sınavı - 3

The Central Bank was established in 1930 to further strengthen the financial sector and the economic independence of the state. A state office for industry was set up in 1932 to inspect the accounts of the private sector and to enforce price and wage controls (Buğra, 1991, p. 160-1).

The craftsmen operated in a hierarchical work place. At the bottom of the hierarchy were the apprentice, then the artisan or journeyman, then the master, and then the head of the guild. B is the right answer.

The state was the ultimate owner of the land and distributed the land to the fief-holders (Sipahi). The sipahi in turn allocated the land to the peasants for cultivation. A is the right answer.

Atatürk himself owned 28 per cent of the shares. C is the right answer.

Being aware of and concerned with the growing opposition, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk let one of his close friends, Fethi Okyar, form the Independent Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası-SCF) in 1930. C is the right answer.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk let one of his close friends, Fethi Okyar, form the Independent Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası-SCF) in 1930. A is the right answer.

The CHP government enacted the Wealth Levy (Varlık Vergisi) in 1943, and it was directed mainly against nonMuslim minority enterprises. D is the right answer.

DP won the elections in 1950, and Turkey entered into a more liberal economic and political era. C is the right answer.

In the October 1961 elections, nearly 35 per cent of the votes went to the Justice Party (Adalet PartisiAP), which had inherited large sections of voters and local organizations of DP. The 1961 election results were inconclusive. Thus, a coalition government between CHP and AP was established, owing to the mild threat of military intervention. D is the right answer.

Erbakan decided to take part in general elections with his close friends, became an independent MP in 1969 and formed his own party, the National Order Party (Milli Nizam Partisi-MNP) in 1970. E is the right answer.

The structural adjustment program (SAP) prepared before the military takeover came into full effect after the 1983 elections during which previous parties and their leadership were still on trial. ANAP under the leadership of Özal became the first party to encompass different political tendencies of the right wing electorate thanks to the political bans keeping the old prominent figures out of sight. E is the right answer.

The guild system was used to regulate economic life, collect taxes on craftsmen and commodities, and meet the needs of the army.

The Italian, German, and Soviet experiences provided an ideological backup to the etatist wing of CHP, which increasingly advocated more state intervention for rapid industrialization. ‘Rather than the state being the handmaiden of a growing private sector, it was now to seize the “commanding heights” of the economy and bend the private sector to its will’

As a starting point, it is necessary to provide a summary of basic socio-economic and political factors to illuminate the failure of the Ottomans in adapting to global economic changes and in creating effective institutions. The Ottoman economy was integrated with the international economic system, however this integration came under the control of the European states before the Tanzimat Reforms in 1839-76 and, thus, it was disadvantageous to the development of Turkey’s productive resources and state revenues. An agricultural economy without land ownership or property rights and the lack of population density in cities also inhibited the development of division of labor and entrepreneurial classes. Ethnicity was a major dividing factor, overshadowing class divisions. The mode of agricultural and industrial production was formed by the state to establish social order and sustainable revenue sources for the military and bureaucratic purposes. In the political economy of the Ottoman Empire, wealth was not necessarily instrumental for gaining political power. This very structure not only failed to adapt to the changes in global trade and industrial markets but also prepared the conditions for the economic collapse.

The CHP government had already declared the end of restricted wartime measures and the beginning of a new era of cooperation between the state and the private sector. This sudden change in the CHP ideology was a result of the pressure from the donors of Western aid. DP won the elections in 1950, and Turkey entered into a more liberal economic and political era. This period was marked by capital accumulation in the private sector through government credits originated from foreign aid program. Using the state agencies like the Industrial Development Bank to distribute aid funds increased state patronage and the inefficient use of public funds. The flow of foreign credits as part of the Marshall Program was also used to import agricultural equipment as the general recovery of the world market and the interests of developed countries favored agricultural production and exports in the third world. The private sector started to integrate with international capital as foreign capital flowed in and the economy opened up. Etatism as an authoritarian intervention and control was undermined but this did not mean the abandonment of state investments and intervention. The intervention took the form of clientelism or supporting periphery against the center.

The minority government of AP, with a standby agreement with IMF, prepared the structural adjustment programs (SAP) known as ‘24 January measures’. The main policy recommendations included:

• Removing state control over interests and prices and increasing competition for state enterprises through elimination of government subsidies.

• Avoiding the destabilization of the economy through making arrangements to cope with fiscal deficits, inflation and external debt accumulation.

• Shifting from import substitution to an export promotion strategy, import liberalization, promotion of foreign investment and determination of realistic exchange rates.

• Concentration of public investment on the energy and transportation infrastructure rather than manufacturing.

Between 1983 and 1991, the ANAP governments introduced numerous policies that resulted in a resurrection in the economy and showed some characteristics of a market economy. The most important structural changes in terms of the shift to a market economy were the abolition of the law of protection of the Turkish Lira (1990), the introduction of Capital Market Law (1981) which envisaged the reopening of the Istanbul Stock Exchange and the establishment of the Capital Market Board (1985), the liberalization of foreign exchange operations and international capital (1989), liberalization of the banking sector (1990), increasing the autonomy of the Central Bank and the Treasury from political interventions. Özal called in foreign consultants, including the Morgan Bank, which drew up a privatization master plan in 1986.

Military Corporatism vs. Supremacy of Parliament 1960-1983: In this era, socio-economic issues were reduced to technical problems, which could supposedly be solved by rational planning through increasing power of bureaucrats. IMF and the World Bank had also begun to promote import substitution development plans for developing world. So, corporatism, ISI and planned economy triangle was seen as perfect match for the time. Indeed, large industries, in collaboration with foreign capital, continued to benefit from the import-substitution industrialization (ISI) policies of the 1960s by producing durable consumer goods serving domestic demand. However, inter-bourgeoisie conflict and increased trade union activities and socialist movements created political instability and weakened the AP government. The urban unrest of the rising workers’ and students’ movements was the main excuse for the military intervention in March 1971. Throughout the 1970s, Turkey experienced a series of weak coalitions. Low industrial efficiency was the result of Turkish development planning, which emphasized high growth rates through a large allocation of investment to import-substituted basic industry and the direction and the use of administrative regulation rather than incentives to ensure the effective functioning of the market. Towards the end of 1960s, IMF and OECD pressed Turkey to replace protectionism with export promotion strategy in order to solve the growing foreign debt problem.

Transition to Democracy 1946–1960: The CHP government had already declared the end of restricted wartime measures and the beginning of a new era of cooperation between the state and the private sector. This sudden change in the CHP ideology was a result of the pressure from the donors of Western aid. DP won the elections in 1950, and Turkey entered into a more liberal economic and political era. This period was marked by capital accumulation in the private sector through government credits originated from foreign aid program. Using the state agencies like the Industrial Development Bank to distribute aid funds increased state patronage and the inefficient use of public funds. The flow of foreign credits as part of the Marshall Program was also used to import agricultural equipment as the general recovery of the world market and the interests of developed countries favored agricultural production and exports in the third world. The private sector started to integrate with international capital as foreign capital flowed in and the economy opened up. Etatism as an authoritarian intervention and control was undermined but this did not mean the abandonment of state investments and intervention. The intervention took the form of clientelism or supporting periphery against the center

Economic crisis continued with soaring trade deficits, declining currency reserves, high inflation rates, and the shift of capital from productive to non-productive activities. Turkey’s creditors began to plan a rescue operation in 1980. The philosophy behind this operation was associated with Friedmanist (also known as Chicago School) economics which became new panacea for the crisis in the global economy and welfare state in the 70s and a response to rising unpopularity of Keynesian demand-based economics. The minority government of AP, with a standby agreement with IMF, prepared the structural adjustment programs (SAP) known as ‘24 January measures’.