Question

Turkish Economy (ECON422)

State the major economic policies implemented during the İnönü period. Explain the changes made in the agricultural sector during the Democrat Party era.

Answer 1

.Inonu was the successor of Ataturk and became the president of Turkey in 1938. When Inonu came into force, there were two forces that were in force. One group wanted to increase the control over state functions whereas the other group wanted to debate the domestic and foreign affairs. Inonu followed a balancing policy that balanced these forces. Moreover, it was during his induction period that the World war II broke out and hence Inonu was not able to make may changes in the political and economic history of Turkey. But it was during his Prime ministership that he introduced some major changes in the economy which came to be known as ‘Statism in economy’. Here, he tried to introduce a heavy hand of the government in the economy especially after the 1929 economic crisis. The economic plan implemented by him was inspired by the Five year plan of the soviet union. Hereby he took much of the private property under the government control. It has to be analysed that about 70% of Turkey’s land remains under the state control even now due to this measure taken by him.

                                    The Democratic party began its rule in 1946 in Turkey. They made many developments in the agricultural sector. A major characteristic of the Democratic Party’s agricultural development strategy was the promotion of mechanization in agriculture. The introduction of tractors and other agricultural machinery increased the labour productivity and led to an expansion in the land used for agriculture. It also led to two major changes. First, the productivity of the land did not increase and a sizeable surplus labour in the rural areas was created. The land productivity became a bottleneck and the land use reached its limits of productivity. Secondly, surplus labour in the rural areas led to a speedy, disorganized and a rather chaotic urbanization. Farmers gained considerably from the reformations introduced in the agricultural sector and it resulted in slow accumulation of wealth in the hands of landowners. Moreover the increase in the transportation facilities led to the improvements in the domestic market and trade facilities. This populist approach of the Democratic party in the agricultural sector clearly led to a stable economy in Turkey in the future.