Turkey is a nation with a geographic area located in the Middle East. In its antiquity, it has acted as an intermediary between two continents, Asia and Europe. Atatürk became the first president of this country after several significant events (Ayhan et al. 62). For example, he rose to prominence for his position in safeguarding the Ottoman Turkish conquest at Gallipoli’s skirmish during the First World War in 1915 (Ayhan et al. 65). He was also the spearhead of the Turkish National Movement, where he courageously fought for the independence of his country (Ayhan et al. 65). Additionally, he is also remembered as a protector of women’s rights and for introducing revolutionary reforms in Turkey (Ayhan et al. 65). During his reign, the economic policies of Turkey were categorized into two: the 1923-1929 era was referred to as the “liberal era,” whereas the 1929-1938 period was denoted as the “étatism era” (Ayhan et al. 64). This paper explores the changes in Turkey’s economic policies since the reign of Mustafa Atatürk, including how prosperous this era was regarding economic growth and acquiescence with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditions for reforms.
The regime of Atatürk was characterized by both political and economic goals for sovereignty. Therefore, his monetary policy was implemented during the Economic Congress in Izmir in 1923 (Ayhan et al. 67). His administration decided to promote and develop domestic production, which would disallow luxury imports, authorize foreign capital provided that it led to economic prosperity, and dissolve the monopoly of Reji, a firm that dominated the tobacco industry (Ayhan et al. 67). Other initiatives included canceling the land tax, substituting it with an appropriate tax, and proclaiming the customs tariffs to safeguard the local market from the competition with foreign goods. The conference participants also decided to consider economic moves, such as creating an industrial bank to offer credit to the manufacturers and implementing the law to facilitate industry (Ayhan et al. 66). The Izmir’s financial assembly’s rulings were regarded as the fundamentals of a conservative and nationalist economic policy aspiring to attain improvement of the nation by offering legislative support for private enterprise.
At the beginning of Atatürk’s time in office, Turkey had an underdeveloped economy that was further affected by the recent end of the First World War and Turkey’s capitulation in it. However, the nation’s new leader began modernizing it, both in terms of the institutions and the technologies used. In keeping with his statism and independence policy, the country used its funds to achieve this purpose, refusing to rely on the IMF. As a result of the government’s efforts, the economy began recovering rapidly, returning to prior agricultural production levels and then exceeding them. Moreover, due to the improved infrastructure that resulted from the government’s dedicated efforts, the nation’s industry also started improving.
Atatürk’s time was characterized by a dramatic change in Turkey’s direction and institutions, aimed at helping the nation recover from the First World War. Turkey became a secular state rather than an Islamic one, and the leader contributed substantially to the emancipation of women in the country. Moreover, Atatürk shifted the nation toward a self-oriented course, aiming to reduce its dependence on other nations that let them exploit its resources. As a result of his policy, the nation’s economy recovered from the war’s damage and started improving as it became more modernized. Ultimately, the changes that Atatürk introduced were necessary and helped the people of Turkey substantially, justifying his lasting fame.
Work Cited
Ayhan, Emrah, et al. “Neo-Liberal Globalization, and Turkey.” The Journal of MacroTrends in Social Science, vol. 2, no. 1, 2016, pp. 62-76.