ADANA, Turkey — It is a great time to be in Turkey. Before the oppressive heat of summer sets in, the countryside is a dazzling green and spring’s promise is ubiquitous.
The explosive growth of China, India and, to a lesser extent Brazil, have received far more global attention. But in its own way Turkey has emerged as a powerhouse with tentacles reaching deep into Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East — reestablishing traditional connections that ended with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
A brutal civil war rages interminably nearby in Syria. But here in Adana the sense that the country’s agricultural heartland is on a roll is almost as palpable as it is hundreds of kilometres away in the thriving sprawls of Istanbul and Ankara.
Turkey still counts on hordes of visitors who come for the sun and sea and to marvel at the towering minarets and bazaars where Christendom and Islam and Europe and Asia meet on the Bosphorus. But tourism and farming are the old ways of surviving in Turkey. Its future can be seen in the copies of the Financial Times that are being closely read every morning by businessmen crowding the breakfast room at Adana’s Hilton Hotel. An American engineer brought over to inspect boilers at a group of factories to ensure they are world class told me this week of his amazement at how Turkey had achieved so much with so little buzz.
Only three years ago Turkey was experiencing an annual growth rate of nine per cent. After more than a decade of phenomenal growth, that figure dropped sharply to 2.2 per cent last year. Still, that performance was considerably better than all the EU economies and growth is touted to be a more robust four per cent this year.
Turkey has become Iraq’s largest trading partner since the wars there have ebbed. Much of the money comes from oil and gas business conducted with Iraq’s Kurds. This breakthrough may help to ease tensions between Turks and the country’s restive Kurdish minority.
Turkey has major energy plans of its own in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea and is aggressively seeking foreign help to build a second nuclear power plant. Given the problems between Canada and the U.S. over pipelines, it is interesting that Turkey has no qualms about building them to enable its neighbours to export fuel and contribute to its prosperity.
Led by construction companies, which have become international conglomerates, Turkey has huge and growing commercial interests in energy-rich Central Asia. To promote its interests, the government has celebrated the similarity between Turkish and the Turkic languages spoken by tens of millions there. This long dormant historic connection has permitted Turkish soap operas to develop a passionate following in unexpected places such as Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. But then Slovaks and Egyptians rave about Turkish soaps, too.
Nothing better illustrates Turkey’s boom than the exploding route map of Turkish Airlines. Like the Persian Gulf carriers, Turkey’s national airline has been merrily connecting Asian, Middle Eastern and European destinations. In so doing, they have all cut deeply into the business of carriers from Australasia and Europe.
But unlike its Gulf rivals, Turkish Airlines has a second lane. It has become the biggest international gateway to southern Russia, Central Asia and other remnants of the Soviet empire such as Moldova, Georgia and Armenia.
The reach of the Turkish flag carrier — which has quadrupled the number of passengers it has flown since 2003 and intends to soon have the world’s biggest route network — now extends far beyond Europe and Asia. Although not generally known in Canada, it flies five nonstop flights a week between Istanbul and Toronto, to four American destinations as well as to Brazil and daunting locales such as Libya, Rwanda and Somalia.
Only this week the airline announced the purchase of 95 Boeing jets, to go with 117 jets it bought from Airbus last month. This is far more new aircraft than Air Canada has bought during the past decade.
Turkey’s success is ironic because the EU, led by France and Germany, has continued to spurn its attempts to join the confederation because, although nobody will say so, it does not want an Islamic country in its club. Having put Turkey off for years, the EU has embraced such economic minnows as Romania and Bulgaria.
With the southern half of the EU, led by the country’s longtime foes, Greece and the Greek part of Cyprus, now requiring huge bailouts from their European partners, it looks as if Turkey is having the last laugh. Who needs whom?
