Number: RL32071
Title: Turkey: Update on Selected Issues
Authors: Carol Migdalovitz, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) are securely in power in Turkey, and they now have a two-thirds majority in parliament. The governments highest priorities are improving the economy and obtaining a date to begin accession talks with the European Union. With the aid of IMF loans and IMF oversight, the government has undertaken major macroeconomic reforms, achieved solid growth, and reduced inflation. Turkey has a huge debt burden, but fiscal discipline needed to pay it down sometimes eludes the AKP government. Nonetheless, the IMF reviewed the governments economic performance positively in early August 2003. The Turkish parliament has passed reforms to harmonize Turkeys laws and Constitution with EU standards. Recent laws provide for greater civilian control over the powerful military, potentially revolutionizing how the Turkish political system operates. Other new laws are supposed to improve cultural rights of Turkish Kurds and provide a limited amnesty for Kurdish separatists. The EU is expected to scrutinize implementation of the reforms before setting a date for accession talks.
Pages: 29
Date: August 12, 2004