Erdal Tanas Karagöl

The cancellation of the South Stream Project and the announcement of a new pipeline project in its stead, recently promoted and called the Turkish Stream, to connect Russia and Europe via Turkey has added a new dimension to Turkey-Russia relations. With its stable economic indicators and geopolitical position, Turkey has gained a critical position in shaping the global energy map by means of similar projects. The Turkish Stream, which was launched in an atmosphere of souring relations between Russia and the European Union (EU), represents a project that could play a critical role in improving Turkey-EU relations.

During the 1990s, political uncertainties in Turkey had negative effects that left the economy vulnerable to public and foreign debt due to high inflation, high budget deficit and high current account deficit. Coalition governments failed to address these problems. Following its rise to power in 2002, the AK Party developed a new perspective for the economy, politics and foreign policy collectively referred as the New Turkey. The government emphasized fiscal discipline, structural transformation and privatization. During this period, Turkey rapidly recovered from the negative effects of the 2001 financial crisis and reached a steady growth rate. The country also survived the 2008 global crisis with minimum damage. The government seeks to meet its targets for the centennial of the Republic’s establishment.

Turkey’s rejuvenated foreign policy activism firmly constructed on novel conceptual parameters, such as “strategic depth,” “zero problems with neighbours,” “maximum cooperation” and “balance between security and freedom”, attracted ever-increasing academic and popular attention over the course of the last decade.

“Economic Liberalization and Turkey” provides comprehensive information relat- ed to liberalization of trade in agricultural and industrial goods, the liberalization of services, and the role of regulatory intu- itions in trade liberalization. The book is divided into three parts. Part I consist of two chapters.