Is this the end of Turkish miracle?
Turkey’s economic success story of the past decade has dramatically changed, becoming instead a tale of caution.
Turkey seemed to achieve a lot during the first 10 years of the Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s rule, but those "good old days," such as they were, appear to be gone.
After its economic crisis in 2001, the country experienced an average annual growth rate of 6% during the decade that began in 2002. Not just that, but even as interest rates rapidly declined following the global economic crisis of 2008, foreign currency rates were brought under control, unemployment was kept below 8% and the inflation rate was acceptable at less than 4%. The only macro indicator of concern was the deficit, which reached 10% of the gross national product.
This mood of economic optimism was accompanied by political optimism as well for several reasons: the positive domestic steps taken toward solving the Kurdish problem, the democratization efforts made to try to open the way to European Union membership and the friendly relations and cooperation initiatives launched in line with Turkey's "zero problems with neighbor countries" strategy.
"This is called the Turkish miracle," Zafer Caglayan, the economy minister at the time, said in 2012. "All around the world this miracle is being discussed."
