TÜRK SİYASETİ

The Ottoman state developed three social institutions, the devşirme (enslaved children levied from the Christian population of the Balkans, then trained as servants of the sultan), millet, and the guild system. The devşirme system provided an army of bureaucrats and soldiers with no ethnic, family, or regional loyalties other than those owed to the state. The devşirme system degenerated and came to an end by the 17th century.

The reforms in the land system during the 17th and 18th centuries replaced sipahis with ayans (people with tax collecting privileges on agricultural production). The land continued to be redistributed to the surviving ayans and continually re-divided.

The first bank, the Ottoman Bank, was established as a Franco-British partnership in 1863 and functioned almost like a central bank in Turkey. It was established to bankroll the state, issue banknotes, and to put the state’s finances in order. The Ottoman state possessed limited control over the activities of the bank; and hence, over monetary policy.

The official economic policy of the mid-1920s conveyed the objectives phrased by the organization of the National Economic Congress in 1923. The representatives of all economic classes were represented, ‘though on a selective and not truly democratic basis’ (Hershlag, 1988, p. 1). The congress stressed the importance of private economy although both the representatives of economy and politics did not sincerely believe in market economy.

Protection of the Turkish currency and the restriction of foreign trade activities were necessary components of politico-economic engineering. The government continued its own program to support domestic industry and to nationalize foreign capital especially in the field of public services with the resources drawn from agricultural taxation.

The business community discussed etatism, taxation, foreign trade, bureaucracy and centralism, and demanded the withdrawal of several restrictive policies and the restructuring of the chambers as an autonomous organization (Birtek, 1985; Buğra, 1994). Although the congress did not demand the abolition of the etatism completely, it signaled the emergence of a strong opposition to CHP and its interpretation of the etatism. They requested a nonpartisan economic commission to carry out a new economic plan to foster rapid industrial development.

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, avoiding the destabilization of the economy through making arrangements to cope with inflation and external debt accumulation, shifting from import substitution to an export promotion strategy and import liberalization, concentration of public investment on the energy and transportation infrastructure rather than manufacturing.

The government supported exports and constrained total national consumption through several measures such as the introduction of Value Added Tax (and low wage levels). The drive for export was fuelled by export tax rebates, duty-free imports of raw materials and subsidized credits. As a result of these incentives, manufactured consumer goods constituted 72 per cent of exports in 1992, an increase from one third of exports in 1980 (İlkin, 1991). Between 1981 and 1985 exporters received tax rebates and subsidized credit while non-exporting firms faced difficulties to get cheap borrowings.

In the 1960s, the domestic industry (with the almost total exclusion of foreign consumer goods) captured local markets with high profit margins. A competition-free environment, however, caused misallocation of resources and a maximization of costs in industry. The favorable exchange rates accorded to the investment goods contributed to the capital-intensive industries, which were characterized, by low efficiency and high costs as a result of being domestically oriented (Barkey, 1984). 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.

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.