ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the AKP's management of Turkish economy. The chapter first visits the 2001 financial crisis, focusing on major economic problems Turkey had suffered from and the reforms implemented to solve those problems. The chapter claims that the AKP owed its electoral success in its first year of existence to that crisis and the subsequent reforms. Still, the chapter argues, the AKP continued to manage Turkey's economy in a way not to re-create or deepen the problems the reforms sought to remedy. Thanks to the AKP's disciplined economic management, Turkey's economy recovered and grew until very recently. The chapter shows that Turkey's economic growth has benefited broad sectors of the society and has not dramatically deepened economic inequalities. The chapter finally discusses some economic problems that the AKP has failed to effectively address and reflects on the potential impact of the transition to presidential system had on economic management.
