A key element in the image of success the Turkish government is trying to project is the large number of grand construction projects in the country combined with the narrative that Turkey faces challenges by adversaries who are “jealous” of its progress and resurging power. For instance, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a crowd of supporters in May, “Why is the West jealous of us? It’s because of the dams. … It’s because of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge [over the Bosporus]. … It’s because of the Marmaray Tunnel and subway running under the Bosporus.”

The largest “megaprojects” — as Ankara calls them — include a giant third airport in Istanbul; the Eurasia Tunnel, an undersea motorway between the European and Asian shores of the Bosporus; and a highway complete with a suspension bridge from the industrial hub of Gebze outside Istanbul to Turkey’s third-largest city, Izmir. Yet the projects have never been free of controversy, criticism and protests over various legal, environmental and financial aspects. Many people worry that the construction drive is creating a “black hole” in public finances.

The megaprojects are being built on the public-private partnership (PPP) model and, as such, are ultimately viewed as a sort of privatization. Though the state remains the owner of public property such as land, shores, waterways and mines, the transfer of operation and usage rights to private companies is, in a broad sense, a sequel of privatization.

The PPP model, including methods such as build-operate-transfer or the transfer of operational rights, is an investment model that the World Bank has promoted and backed, especially for emerging economies. According to World Bank figures, Turkey is third among 10 emerging countries in terms of the total contract value of PPP project stocks. Brazil tops the list with $510 billion, followed by India with $341 billion and Turkey with $161 billion. The fourth-largest project stock, worth $155 billion, belongs to Russia, followed by Mexico with $141 billion and China, which surprisingly lags behind in this field with $139 billion.