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Turkey should review its economy and foreign trade policies to survive difficult times

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TURKISH_EXPORTS
Turkey has gone through some real difficult experiences which has cost billions of dollars of loss in several export markets. This has certainly had a major negative impact on the economy and the budget. It was not a first time in the history of the country and may not be the last either although the most recent crisis had to do with the conflict between Turkey and Russia mainly as Russia has been one of the main export markets (and an importation source surely) for decades.

Thankfully the country seems to have put things back in order now after having repaired ties with Russia following a stressful period of months long and the economy seems to be on the right track again.

However this experience has shown once again that Turkey has to take action this time to make sure “all eggs are not in the same basket” any more. That is Turkey needs to diversify its sectors that produce goods and services eligible for exportation, as well as foreign markets these goods and products are to be exported to, not to forget the attention to be focused on tourism sector.

In case of the last crisis for instance, a conflict with Russia has cost Turkey billions of dollars due to the loss caused by cancellation of Russian tourist group visiting Antalya each and every year. The damage was so high that many hospitality facilities had to close down due to lack of planned revenues from those incoming groups. The conflict with Germany on the other hand for instance due to the recognition of “Armenian Genocide” by the German parliament also rang the alarm bells for Turkey as Germany has always been the major export market for the country.

Just to refresh our memories, Germany which had harsh response from Ankara after the vote, is known as Turkey’s largest export market, a fact confirmed by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat) which states that Turkey’s annual overall data of exports to Germany reached 15 billion dollars in 2015, while Turkey hosts the highest number of tourists from Germany every year.

When a country such as Turkey has to confront a country like Germany regarding whatsoever issue, it cannot ignore the magnitude of mutual economic ties that could lead to a severe undesired impact in case of deterioration.

So we do hope that this has been a last bitter and truly alarming experience for Turkey to review and reshape its economic and foreign trade strategies to avoid similar stress and pressure in case of an eventual situation to be experienced in the future.

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