ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the historical antecedents of the 1960-1980 period in Turkey and identifies the key themes to understanding its contemporary political economy. The pre-1960 era of planned import substitution is preceded by three distinct eras; the Ottoman Period, the early days of the Republic and the Etatist Period of the 1930s, and the Democrat Party Era, 1950-1960. The Ottoman Empire, the historical predecessor of Turkey, left behind a complex legacy of agricultural, commercial and industrial development. The Ottoman landholding system has to be seen as an integral part of the administrative apparatus set up to fulfill not only economic and political but also military needs of the empire. The Democrat Party came to power with an impressive array of supporters: the intelligentsia which had had enough of the autocratic rule of the Republican People's Party; and the new business elites which, in the aftermath of World War II were eager to dismantle the restrictive policies of Etatism.
