ABSTRACT
When the Democrat Party stepped into power in Ankara in 1950, there were high hopes that Turkey had entered a brave and bright new era. The Democrat decade left Turkish industry with a far bigger physical base than had been inherited in 1950. In their successive election campaigns, the Democrats continually stressed the need to improve the lot of the previously neglected peasant. This was not mere vote-mongering, since it could be impartially argued that agriculture deserved a great deal more attention than it had earlier received. The analysis of Turkey's foreign trade during earlier years is handicapped by the fact that, although we have data on the annual level of visible imports and exports, there are no overall balance of payments figures. In the transport sector, too, private enterprise received a significant fillip from Democrat policies.
