Geography and population
The country is vast, very mountainous and very diverse in its landscapes: almost subtropical coastlines in the northeast, Mediterranean regions, continental steppe in the interior, and more than half of its surface area is above 1,000 m in altitude. In 2022, Turkey's population was 83 million. And even if its momentum has slowed to European rates, its population will probably reach 85 million by 2025.
It is the more conservative parts of the population and the Kurdish community that keep demographic attitudes high. Moreover, since coming to power, Erdoğan has been strongly encouraging the birthrate, considering the minimum number of children per woman to be three. He makes demographic weight, in relation to the Europeans, the Balkans or the Mediterranean basin, a component of the country's policy.
Turkey is now a highly urbanized country at over 75%. Urban concentrations, where the majority of the population lives and activities are concentrated, are contrasted with vast underpopulated and neglected rural areas. And this contrast is amplified by the lack of management of the countryside, the absence of a spatial planning policy and the non-existence of administrative regions.
Economy
Turkey has been in the industrial and service economy since the late 1980s. Most of its exports are manufactured goods and services. Its agriculture, on the other hand, is struggling to cope with international competition. The latter sector is not yet covered by the customs union agreement with the EU, although it has been in force since the beginning of 1996. the informal economy remains very present in the country. This is particularly true of women, who still participate little in the formal economy, with the lowest rate of all 52 OECD countries.
Turkey's dynamic growth is based on exports, on the development of electricity production and on consumption thanks to the use of credit encouraged by the government's economic policy. Yet, since 2018, Turkey has experienced a succession of economic and monetary crises with a record inflation in 2022 of 85%. Prices are soaring and Turks keep seeing their purchasing power plummet while the Turkish lira devolves. It lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2022, and by 2021 it had collapsed by 44 per cent against the greenback.
On the other hand, Turkey has not yet fully embraced its internal diversity from a political point of view. The Kurdish question is still at an impasse. On this point, the country has not yet been pacified. While successive Justice and Development Party (AKP) governments have made unprecedented efforts in this area, the temptation to settle the "problem" by force remains. The military actions of the Turks in Syria, but also the attack of November 13, 2022 in Istanbul, have undermined the resumption of dialogue with this minority. In addition, the instability of a number of countries on Turkey's borders, from Georgia to Syria, does not favour a solution to this chronic Kurdish conflict.
In June 2023, presidential and parliamentary elections will be held. President Erdogan, who has been in power since 2003, will seek a new term. The only NATO member not to apply sanctions on Russia since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Turkey has seen trade with Moscow increase by 40% in the first six months of 2022. The country is playing a diplomatic role in mediating between the warring parties. In 2022, Ankara also restored diplomatic relations with Israel after a 12-year suspension.
The European question
Turkey has been a candidate for membership in the European Union since 1987, but the Europeans did not recognize this status until 1999. This desire for rapprochement with the European authorities has pushed the country to implement changes that are in line with rights and freedoms. But the country's entry into the EU has been the subject of recurrent debates for 20 years, because the issues related to its acceptance raise questions of a historical, religious, demographic and geopolitical nature. It raises questions about the borders of the European continent, the weight of Islam, the political weight of this new entrant, a demographic champion, and many other geopolitical stumbling blocks, such as the recognition of the Republic of Cyprus.
Today, with all its potential, contradictions and grey areas, a possible entry of Turkey into the European Union does not even seem to be considered. The numerous authoritarian measures and drifts of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan do not help the situation, and are all signs interpreted as "ostensible aggression" against the values advocated by the Union. Indeed, the country has well and truly distanced itself from European interlocutors: arbitrary arrests after the failed coup of 2016, presidential omnipotence, military interventions in Syria, denigration of certain EU partners, demonstrations of force in the eastern Mediterranean, etc. The horizon of the Union seems very far away..
Ecology
Turkey can be considered a developing country in the fields of environment and ecology. Withdrawn into itself for many years, it was with the arrival of Prime Minister Turgut Özal, who succeeded a military regime in 1983, that the country switched to a liberal economy. What followed was a fast-paced film: a tourism boom, a booming construction sector, excessive industrialization, a series of privatizations... the scenario was fairly classic. At the same time, the break-up of the USSR made regional balances delicate; ecology was not the first concern.
Even today, environmental laws are difficult to apply and the country is confronted with gaps in education and a lack of means invested in this field. All of these factors contribute to placing the environment and ecology at the bottom of the government's priority list.
Nature, on the other hand, does not forgive certain neglects, such as deforestation. Land erosion is a real sword of Damocles. Indeed, it is estimated that 85% of the country's surface is affected to various degrees, and 58% in a worrying state! The project of implantation of nuclear power stations on the Turkish soil in a few years (in the very near future) is also one of the big challenges which the defenders of ecology must face. Dams are another black spot of environmental protection in Turkey. However, they are multiplying. Faced with a shortage of electricity, the Turkish state has launched vast dam construction projects, to the detriment of the fauna and flora that are devastated by the infrastructure, but also of the villagers and historical buildings. The infamous (and very recent) example of Hasan Keyf, in the southeast of the country, is a glaring example of this policy, which, in the logic of efficiency and profit, ignores the past and heritage. A hydroelectric dam has condemned the thousand-year-old city. The historic city and its monuments sank under the waters of the Tigris in April 2020.
The Turkish environmental movement is still very young and does not have a very solid and well-established base in the country's political landscape. It was only in the early 1980s that it was born. The term "environment" appeared for the first time in the 1982 Constitution (in Article 56). A year later, a law was promulgated and several decrees followed, which favored the role of the Water Company (DSI).
Fortunately, all the current signals show a major change of course and the defenders of the environment are multiplying. There is still a long way to go and there are significant regional inequalities, but the efforts are encouraging. The heated negotiations with the EU and the goodwill shown by the authorities are another hope in this area. Once fierce opponents of the Turkish regime, the Greens have become strong allies in the thorny EU venture in recent years. On the other hand, we are witnessing here and there projects in favor of the collective environment, ranging from the rehabilitation of several basins, such as those of Gediz or Menderes (Aegean Sea), to the acceleration of reforestation. Unfortunately, the maritime environment is still the poor relation of the Turkish environmental policy. Inaugurated in March 2022, the Dardanelles Bridge links Europe and Asia.with a span of 2,023 meters, it is the longest suspension bridge ever built by man.
