Turkiye
On July 23rd, the Turkish Central Bank decided to keep the benchmark interest rates unchanged at 50%. According to Turkish authorities, inflation, which stood at 71.6% in June, is expected to experience a temporary increase in July before beginning to decrease in the second half of the year. However, it will be a "bumpy road," according to economic operators, who expect an inflation rate higher than the government's estimates. Regarding a possible rate reduction, the start of a cautious path of cuts is anticipated for the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025, when inflation should begin to decrease significantly.
On the trade policy front, BYD, the largest Chinese company in the electric vehicle sector, has signed an agreement worth around $1 billion with the Turkish government to produce cars in the country. The plant, expected to create more than 5,000 jobs starting in 2026, will produce about 150,000 vehicles annually. The agreement was formalized during an event attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu. The announcement follows Western countries' decision to introduce import tariffs on Chinese electric cars, whose manufacturers enjoy significant state subsidies from the government, allowing them to sell at more competitive prices, effectively pushing European and American competitors out of the market. The European tariffs, effective from last Friday, July 5, will range from 17.4% to 37.6%, varying depending on the entity to which they apply, and will be added to the existing 10% tariffs. Türkiye, as is known, has been part of the EU Customs Union since 1995, and vehicles produced in the country and exported to the EU are therefore not subject to additional tariffs. The United States, on the other hand, has introduced 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, effectively excluding them from the US market.
Consequently, European tariffs can be easily circumvented by producing Chinese electric vehicles in Türkiye. In June, Türkiye also imposed 40% tariffs on electric cars imported from China to support domestic production; however, this measure has been nullified by the above agreement.
Download the July 2024 report
On Wednesday, July 20, a Memorandum of Cooperation between Med-Or Foundation and the Center for Strategic Research of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey was signed.
A brief history of the Khazar Khaganate by Alessandro Giuli
Turkey’s economic and energy policies are linked to the country’s geopolitical ambitions in the Broader Mediterranean. A look at Ankara’s role in the region’s balance.
| Head of state | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan |
| Head of Government | Cevdet Yılmaz (Vice president) |
| Institutional Form | Unitary presidential constitutional republic |
| Capital | Ankara |
| Legislative Power | Unicameral National Assembly of Türkiye (Türkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi, 600 members) |
| Judicial Power | Constitutional Court, Court of Cassation, Council of State and the Court of Jurisdictional Disputes. The Constitutional Court judges are appointed by the President and the Parliament |
| Ambassador to Italy | Ömer Gücük |
| Total Area kmq | 783,562 km2 |
| Land | 769,632 km2 |
| Weather | Temperate; hot, dry summers with mild temperatures; wet winters; harsher climate in the inland |
| Natural resources | Coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestite, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrite (sulphur), clay, arable land, hydropower |
| Economic summary | A free market economy based on industry and the service sectors; the agricultural field still accounts around 25% of employment; heavily dependent on oil and gas imports, has adopt measures to increase the use of domestic energy sources. The economic crisis and the 80% inflation led Türkiye to obtain numerous foreign investments. |
| GDP | $815 billion (Dec. 2021) |
| Pro-capite GDP (Purchasing power parity) | $13251 (Dec. 2021) |
| Exports | $177 billion (2020) |
| Export partner | Germany 9.25, UK 7.2%, United States 5.81%, Iraq 5.18%, Italy 4.66%, France 4.16% (2020) |
| Imports | $207 billion (2020) |
| Import partner | Germany 11.5%, China 10.74%, Russia 6.29%, United States 5.15%, Italy 4.31% (2020) |
| Trade With Italy | $ 22,68 billion (2021) |
| Population | 83.047.706 (2022) |
| Population Growth | +0,67% (2022) |
| Ethnicities | Turks 70-75%, Kurds 18%, other minorities 17% |
| Languages | Turkish (official language), Kurdish, minority languages |
| Religions | Muslims 99.8% (mainly Sunnis), 0.2% mainly Christians and Jews |
| Urbanization | 77% (2022) |
| Literacy | 96,7% |
Born in 1922, after the overthrow of Sultan Mehmet VI, the Republic of Turkey inherited the core part of the Ottoman Empire, which had been greatly reduced after the First World War. Like the old Ottoman Empire, the modern Republic of Turkey stretches over two continents, with the westernmost part of the country, Thrace, in Europe, and the rest of the country occupying the Anatolian Peninsula in Asia. Thrace and Anatolia are separated by the Bosphorus Strait, which links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and, by extension, to the Aegean Sea, through the Dardanelles Strait. Turkey is bordered by four seas: the Levant (Mediterranean) Sea to the South, the Marmara and the Aegean seas to the west/south-west and the Black Sea to the north. The country shares its land borders with Greece to the west, Bulgaria to the north-west, Georgia to the north-east, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east, Iraq and Syria to the south-east. The population is about 83 million, 99 percent of whom are Sunnis. About 18 percent of the population has Kurdish origins and lives in the eastern part of the country. There are also small Christian and Jewish minorities. The official language is Turkish.
Thanks to its geographic position, Turkey is one of the gateways to the Mediterranean and the Near East, and has been for centuries a hub for trade and cultural exchanges. For all these reasons, Turkey plays a central role in the broader Mediterranean and it is the only country in the Near East to be a member of NATO, since 1952.
Over the last few decades, Turkey has experienced significant economic growth in a wide range of industrial sectors, ranging from high-tech to manufacturing and agribusiness. With the recent discovery of large off-shore energy fields, Turkey has strongly promoted its national energy industry, with the aim to meet domestic demand and become a key exporter, especially in the gas sector. Italy is Turkey's second largest European trading partner, with an estimated total trade of $ 22,61 billion in 2021. In addition to trade and investment in the agri-food sector, the two countries also cooperate in the energy supply sector, through the construction of several pipelines. Thanks to its important relations with Turkey, Italy plays a prominent role mediating between Ankara and the European Union.
