–
Purpose: Discuss politics and social relations, economics and resources and
United States’
interests in Turkey
–
Politics and social relations: Turkey has been under control of the Justice and
Development
Party (AKP) since 20021
— The AKP rose to popularity due to its
pro-western and pro European Union (EU) position2
— The Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) has called
the AKP autocratic and accuses them of
having restricted freedom of expression3
— Freedom House, a non-profit organization
that measures freedom throughout the world, has
studied Turkey and in their 2017 review
they have listed Turkey as only “Partly Free”4
– Economics
and resources: “Trade is important to Turkey’s economy; the value of exports
and
imports taken together equals 59 percent of
GDP”5
— “Turkey is the 25th largest export economy
in the world”6
— “The top exports of Turkey are Cars
($8.32B), Gold ($8.25B), Delivery Trucks ($4.57B),
Vehicle Parts ($3.81B) and Jewellery
($3.75B)”7
— “The top export destinations of Turkey are
Germany ($14B), the United Kingdom ($11.7B),
Iraq ($7.64B), Italy ($7.58B) and the
United States ($6.62B)”8
–
U.S. interest in Turkey: “Agenda with Turkey is focused on security, prosperity
and democracy”9
— Turkey is a member of NATO and a military
partner of the United States10
— Turkey is a democratic country in an
unstable region of the world
— Turkey acts as a buffer to Iraq,
Syria and Iran and allows the U.S. to base its operations
out of there11
–
Turkey is one of the largest economies in Eastern Europe and has allowed the
United States to
conduct military operations in and out of
the country, their role in the Middle East has been
essential to U.S. success
End Notes
1. Eligür, Banu. “Turkey’s Declining
Democracy.” By Banu Eligür. July 22, 2014. Accessed January 18, 2018. https://www.hudson.org/research/10525-turkey-s-declining-democracy.
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. “Turkey.” Freedom House. 2017.
Accessed January 18, 2018. https://freedomhouse.org/country/turkey.
5. “Turkey.” 2017 Index of economic
freedom. 2017. Accessed January 18, 2018. https://www.heritage.org/index/country/turkey.
6. “Turkey.” OEC – Turkey (TUR)
Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners. 2016. Accessed January 18, 2018.
https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/tur/.
7. Ibid
8. Ibid
9. Grossman, Marc. “U.S. Interests and
Turkey.” Middle East Forum. March 13, 2000. Accessed January 18, 2018.
http://www.meforum.org/184/us-interests-and-turkey.
10. Ibid
11. Ibid
