The Islamic Ethic and the Spirit of Turkish Capitalism Today

Abstract

Turkey was among the first countries to adopt neoliberal reforms in the early 1980s. Even though privatization has been a rather slow process, due to the presence of strong regulatory authorities and state-owned industries, the market orientation of the economy was gradually consolidated over the following two decades. Yet neoliberal restructuring gave rise to a series of major crises from the late 1980s onwards, the most recent of which, in 2000-01, resulted in a 9.4 per cent fall in GDP. The vulnerable, poorer members of society, along with salaried professionals and small to medium- sized company owners, shouldered most of the burden. Many skilled and well-educated workers lost their jobs and among smaller companies the bankruptcy rate soared. For the first time in Turkey artisans, shopkeepers, and small business-owning tradesmen went on strike, closing shops and demonstrating against neoliberal policies.