This research examines Turkish foreign trade with a view ì
toward assessing the significance of exports and imports to the ì
Turkish economy, and in order to assess the foreign trading ì
position of the United States with respect to Turkey. The ì
following section of this research analyzes the economic and ì
political environments in Turkey. This analysis is followed by ì
an evaluation of Turkey's foreign trade.ì
Political and Economic Analysisì
Political stability in modern Turkey began to crumble in ì
1970 (Rinehart, 1989, pp. 64-65). As the political party ì
structure began to fracture, it became increasingly difficult to ì
form a stable government. As a consequence, government turnover ì
in Turkey rose to a high rate and political terrorism became ì
increasingly violent and intensive. In 1980, control of the ì
country passed to the military in a coup de 'etat (Seeley, 1989, ì
260-261). A new constitution was implemented in 1982.ì
The junta eventually outlawed all existing political ì
parties and banned all former politicians from future ì
participation in the Turkish government (Seeley, 1989, pp. 260-ì
261). The ban on all political activity was lifted in 1983, and ì
new political parties began forming, although many of the new ì
parties were vetoed by the ruling military junta. It was not ì
until the fall of 1991, however, that elections for a civilian ì
In the 1991 general election, the ruling Motherland Party ì
was defeated (Turkey, 1991, pp. S5-S7). Although no single ì
@ 7 a4 ìèpolitical party elected a majority of the parliament, a coalition ì
government was formed by the True Path Party, with the highest ì
number of seats in parliament, and the Social Democrats, with the ì
third most parliamentary seats. Four of the five political ì
parties represented in the curr...