The Headscarf Controversy in Turkey

This article is based on a monographic field study, which was conducted in October 2007. In addition, the results of other studies on the headscarf issue conducted at different times between 2003 and 2007 have also been used to follow the development over the course of time. The study found that the headscarf prohibition has no strong social basis. As it would be a mistake to see the headscarf prohibition as an element of the secularism project, defining an ideology on the basis of the headscarf, an important religious symbol in Turkey, presents a risk to the progress of democracy, and only serves to increase political polarization. Formulating public policies on the basis of the headscarf prohibition will only help destroy social peace. Social engineering projects which aim to change or destroy political, religious and ethnic positions of citizens are not permitted in Western-type contemporary democracies. There is no headscarf problem in Turkey in a sociological sense, the real problem lies in the totalitarian/authoritarian approach which stems from groundless fears and/or ideological choices of the social elite or economic power centers.Headscarf, hijab, Islamic fundamentalism

Political Economy of Turkey and Financial Crises

The problems Turkey faces today are because of neither poor performances of a few governments nor solely economic factors. Turkey has serious structural difficulties in the fields of economic, political and human rights which have been seen in totalitarian and authoritarian countries of Latin America and Asia. It is not easy to cope with these problems in the short run. Otherwise, we should not have talked about these problems today. Imbalance between foreign exchange revenues and expenses has urged Turkey to take measure to develop foreign trade with Northern and Southern neighbor countries. Comparative advantages of Turkey can be more compromisable with the countries which less developed than Turkey. Remittances of Turkish workers from the West and tourism revenues are other most remarkable components. The other important issue is the structure of Turkish financial system. Turkish financial markets are dominated by banking sector like Germany and Japan. However, the experiences have showed that Anglo-Saxon model of the USA is advantageous. Interest-free banking should be developed to catch up a solid SME sector. Hopefully, EU membership process has forced Turkey to take steps toward structural reforms.Financial crises; economic politic of Turkey, political cycles in Turkey

Türk Ekonomisinde Modernleşme Krizleri: Menderes Dönemi ve Planlı Dönem Ekonomik Krizleri

The Menderes era can be seen the first birth for the modern Turkey. The reason is that all political and economic policies implemented in this period were completely adverse of the previous era (the Inonu era). Nevertheless, structural economic insufficiencies also brought the end of this period. Turkey started to experience a long wasteful expenditure period with the planned era after 1963. This intended wasteful expenditure period lasted until 1977. The second critical time period for modern Turkey started with 1980. January 24 Decisions has changed deeply the development strategy carried out until that day. This second strategy almost reached its limits in 1988. With economic crises in 1994 and 2000, Turkey has seen two big traumas. To cope with economic fluctuations, Turkey has strengthened its long term EU membership policy and IMF-supported economic policy

Osmanlıdan Devreden Kriz Potansiyeli ve Tek Parti Dönemi Ekonomik Krizleri

Turkey has always been grappled with economic crises since its foundation. The human resources and economic potential inherited from Ottoman Empire are both insufficient and poor-quality. In addition, the new political and ideological regime had not been accepted by nationals for a while. Therefore, enormous energy had been allocated to this field to cope with the revolts. Then Prime Minister Ismet Inonu depicted this appearance “we setup a villager government in the middle of Anatolia.” This article handled economic crises before 1980 economic liberalization period in the light of economic and political developments

Kesimler ve Sektörler İtibariyle Kamu Yatırımları

Sektörel Yatırımlar Bakımından Kamu Kesimleri Sektörel yardım alanları olarak tarım, madencilik, imalat sanayi, enerji, ulaştırma, haberleşme, turizm, konut, eğitim, sağlık ye diger hizmetler sektörlerine yapılan toplam kamu yatırımları içindeki her bir kamu kesiminin payındaki gelişim incelenecektir

Türk Finans Sisteminin Yapısı

Türkiye'de finansal piyasalarda 1980 sonrası yapılan düzenlemeler ve sonuçlar

Türkiye'nin Ekonomi-Politiği ve Mali Krizler

The problems Turkey faces today are because of neither poor performances of a few governments nor solely economic factors. Turkey has serious structural difficulties in the fields of economic, political and human rights which have been seen in totalitarian and authoritarian countries of Latin America and Asia. It is not easy to cope with these problems in the short run. Otherwise, we should not have talked about these problems today. Imbalance between foreign exchange revenues and expenses has urged Turkey to take measure to develop foreign trade with Northern and Southern neighbor countries. Comparative advantages of Turkey can be more compromisable with the countries which less developed than Turkey. Remittances of Turkish workers from the West and tourism revenues are other most remarkable components. The other important issue is the structure of Turkish financial system. Turkish financial markets are dominated by banking sector like Germany and Japan. However, the experiences have showed that Anglo-Saxon model of the USA is advantageous. Interest-free banking should be developed to catch up a solid SME sector. Hopefully, EU membership process has forced Turkey to take steps toward structural reforms

Konsolide Bütçe Uygulaması Gider Analizi

Türk ekonomisinin tıpkı diğer gelişme yolundaki ülkeler gibi en önemli sorunu kaynak kıtlığıdır. Kaynakların kıt olması, doğal olarak mevcut kaynakların da en etkili ve en verimli bir şekilde kullanılmasını gerektirmektedir. Kamu harcamalarının GSMH 'ye oranı, vergi gelirlerinin dolaylı ve dolaysız olarak büyüklüğü, vergi yükü vb. kavramların kamu ekonomisinin toplam ekonomiye etkileri bakımından önemli çağrışımları vardır. Bu bağlamda Anglo-Saxon gelenek ve Kıta Avrupası geleneği sosyal, kültürel ve ekonomik düşünce alt-yapısı bakımından önemli farklılıklar arz etmektedir. Öyle ki, devlet olgusuna bakış açısı, toplumsal sivil örgütlenmelere yaklaşım, ekonomik örgütlenme biçimleri vd. konularda iki gelenek arasında büyük ayrılıklar vardır. Türkiye, Osmanlı'nın son dönemlerinden itibaren Kıta Avrupasının yörüngesine girdiğinden; ekonomik ve sosyal yapılanmada bu geleneğin derin izleri vardır. Örneğin, kamu harcamaları /GSMH oranının yüksekliğinden, din-devlet işlerinin ayrışmasına kadar yaygın bir alanda bu olguyu gözlemlemek mümkündür. Ülkemiz ekonomisinin bugün karşı karşıya olduğu en ciddi sorun bi-zatihi kamu kesiminin kendisinden kaynaklan-maktadır. Kısaca özetlemek gerekirse, özel teşebbüsün gücünün olmayışı düşüncesiyle kamu sektörü bir çok alanda doğrudan üretken yatırımlara girişmiş; ancak verimlilik, etkinlik kriterlerini kendisine düstur edinmemiştir

Finansal Kaynakların Kullanımında Kamu Kesiminin Ağırlığı ve Özel Sektörün Dışlanması

Kamu kesiminde özel sektör ile rekabet söz konusu olduğunda, kaynak kullanımı arttıkça özel sektörün dışlandığından söz edilebilir