Volatility has been the hallmark of the Turkish economy for the past two decades. Amid a series of weak coalition governments, the country lurched from crisis to crisis as successive prime ministers promised to bring inflation below 70% and to create stability and then failed to deliver. Then came the financial disaster of 2001 when the wheels really did come off, GNP shrank by 9.4% and Kemal Dervis was brought in from the World Bank to sort out the mess.
With the help of Mr Dervis and $31.5bn from the IMF since December 1999, Turkey’s financial sector and economy have been brought back on track but the elections of November 2002 have also proved a real turning point. The election of a single party, the Justice & Development Party (AK) and prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have broken the mould in Turkish politics, confounded many critics and given the country an unusual taste of political stability.
