Turkiye is a very important global player in power game and got a very important place in regional and international power game scenario. The three norms in international power that are military, economic and global and regional opinion making. Military strength is considered hard power while culture, politics and foreign policy are parts of soft-power. Emerging power is a concept coined for those states that began to increase their presence and influence in international relations. These countries demand a more powerful position in international politics and a more active role in regional and global contexts. They have enough economic resources, military procurement and political weight to be involved in international issues. Since economic development is a precondition of political and, military influence, emerging powers are expected to have an emerging economy. That is while all emerging powers are also emerging economies, not all emerging economies are emerging powers. In other words, emerging power status is a step further. Turkiye has been considered as an emerging economy for several decades. Turkiye has elevated its status to an emerging power. With its large population, growing economy, rising military power, active diplomacy, strong national identity and having very strong, committed, dedicated and visionary leader, “Tayyip Recep Erdogan” Turkiye has increased its capacity and autonomy. Turkiye is now considered as a potential great power. Turkiye proved that its economy was robust enough to resists the sustained economic and political attacks inflicted upon it over the last several years and its military is strong enough to influence global multilateral platforms and sit at the negotiation table as an equal partner with some of the influential global powers, including the United States of America and Russia. Turkiye is regional power and a global actor which requires the successful juggling of both hard and soft power. Turkiye with its growing economy, large population, military might, active diplomacy, strong state tradition and national identity, it has become a decisive regional power capable of taking initiative and forwarding a proactive foreign policy.
During the Russian Ukrainian war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has almost undertaken the function of the U.N. Secretary General. The U.N Secretary- General Antonio Guterres visited President Erdogan in Turkiye before going to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Turkiye’s emergence as a political great power in the ongoing post Cold War reminds us of the wisdom of the great Islamic Scholar ibn Khaldun, who wrote, “the past resembles the future more than one drop of water resembles another.
During the past decade, Turkey has become the rising power in Europe, arguably the world’s most influential Muslim country and a dynamic inspiration for young Arab reformers. Turkey is the only European country that has grown in power since the financial crisis and the start of the Arab uprisings. While European economic fortunes have contracted, Turkey has one of the fastest growing global economies. Turkey may even now be more powerful in the Middle East than Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
Turkiye’s diplomatic network is an area in which it demonstrates strength. One of the most important assets in Turkiye’s soft power capacity is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoF) which oversees the promotion of Turkiye’s interests abroad and advocating Turkiye’s politics. In 2002 Turkiye had 163 diplomatic posts. By 2019 it increased to 236 and in 2021 it further increased to 246 diplomatic posts and consulates and has the 5th largest diplomatic network. The Lowry Institute of Diplomacy Index ranks Turkiye as the eighth strongest diplomatic network in the world with 224 diplomatic posts. Turkiye has fourth most expensive network of diplomatic missions.
Turkiye’s geographical location is very important. It is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia Peninsula in western Asia , with a small portion on the Black Peninsula in South East Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north, Georgia to the north east , Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east, Iraq to the south east, Syria and Mediterranean sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west, and Greece and Bulgaria to the north west. Cyprus is off the south coast. Turkiye is a regional power with a geographically significant location. The Economy of Turkiye, which is a founding member of OECD and G 20, is classified among the E7 , EAGLES and NICs, and economy currently ranks 19th largest by nominal and 11th Largest by PPP. Turkiye is the charter member of the United Nations, The IMF, and the World Bank. It is the founding member of OSCE, OIC, BSEC, ECO, NIKTA, TURSOY and OTS, and an early member of NATO. Turkiye has rich cultural legacy shaped by centuries of history.
Turkiye has 2nd largest military force in NATO after United States of America, with a strength of 890,000 military personnel as of February,2023. Turkiye is a transcontinental country bridging southeastern Europe and Western Asia. Asian Turkiye which include 97 percent of the country’s territory, is separated from European Turkiye by the Bosporus, the sea of Mamara, and the Dardanelies. Turkiye covers an area of 783,562 sq km of which 755,688 sq km is in Asia and 23,764 sq km is in Europe. Its GDP per capita is US$ 41,412 in 2023. According to the world Bank the middle class population in Turkiye rose from 18% to 41% of the total population between 1993 and 2010. As of March 2023 , the foreign currency reserves of the Turkish Central Bank were US$ 62.6 billion. Its global reserves were US$ 52.2 billion. It received US$ 13.22 billion in Foreign Direct Investment. The Automotive industry in Turkiye is a sizeable and produced 1,352,648 motor vehicles in 2022, ranking as the 13th largest producer in the world. Its automotive companies like TEMSA, OTPKAR and DMC are among the world’s largest van, bus and Truck manufacturers. Togg, Turkiye’s automotive joint venture group Inc, is the first-all electric vehicle company of Turkiye. Turkish shipyards are highly regarded both for the production of chemical and oil tankers up to 10,000 dwt , and also their mega yachts. Turkish brands like Beko and Vestel are among the largest producers of consumer electronics and home appliances in Europe. As of 2023,two Turkish Tech startups , Getir and Trendyol, have market valuation above US$ 10 billion. Turkiye is one of the world’s top ten destination countries, with highest percentage of foreign visitors arriving from Europe, specially from Germany and Russia in recent years. In 2019, Turkiye ranked sixth in the world in terms of the number of international tourists’ arrival behind Italy with 51.2 million foreign tourists visiting Turkiye. It has 19 UNESCO world heritage sites and 84 heritage sites world heritage sites in tentative list. Turkiye is home to 519 Blue Flag Beaches ( BFB) which makes it in the third place in the world. Istanbul is the 10th most visited city in the world with 13.433 million visitors and Antalya is the second most visited city Turkiye with over 9 million tourists in 2021. Turkiye has more than 100 airports including 22 international airports. Istanbul Airport is planned to be the largest airport in the world with a capacity to serve 150 million passengers a year. Turkish Airline has scheduled services to 315 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americans making it the largest marine carrier in the world by number of countries served. The motorway spans 3,523 kilometers as of 2021. The network is expected to 4,773 kilometers by 2023 and to 9,312 km by 2035. Istanbul metro is the largest metro network country with 495 million annual ride ship.
The Turkish government heavily invests in research and development to military technologies including Turkish including Turkish Aerospace Industries, Ase Isan, HAVELSAN, Roketsan and MKE. Turkiye is a global leader in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The Bay rector, TB2, manufactured by private defence company Bayker, has been exported to over a dozen countries and played a decisive role in several conflicts, including the 2020 Nagorno Karabagh war. Turkiye has made significant roads in aerospace technology into the 21st Century. In 2013, it installed the Turkish Space Launch System (UFS) to develop an independent satellite launch capability, up to an altitude of 550 km with Simsek -1 rocket by 2027, and the longer range Simsek -2 by 2028. Tursat, the country's sole communication Satellite operator has launched a series of satellite into the orbit, likewise, the Turkish Satellite Assembly, integration and Test Centre (UMET) . A spacecraft production and testing facility owned by the Ministry Defence and operated by the TAI has launched the GOKTURK series of earth observation satellites for reconnaissance, BILSAT-1, and RASAT are the scientific earth observation satellite operated by TUBITAK Space Technologies Research Institute.
In 2015, Aziz Sancar, a Turkish professor at the University of North Carolina, won the Noble Prize in chemistry for his work on how cells repair damaged DNA, Turkey’s among the top fifty most innovative countries in the world, ranking 41st in the Global innovation index in 2021. As of 2022 there are 209 universities in Turkiye. Turkiye became a hub for foreign students in recent years the number of foreign students in Turkiye was 795,962 in 2016. Turkiye scholarship is international scholarship for programme funded by government of Turkiye in 2021. In 2021, in response to Turkish scholarships, that was advertised in January2021, Turkish government received 165,000 applications from 178 countries of the work.
Turkiye
Area Sq km
Land
Water
Coastline
Border Km
Population Million (2022)
GDP US$ billion Nominal (2022)
GDP US$ billion (PPP)
GDP growth %
GDP per Capita (Nominal)
GDP Per Capita (PPP)
GDP by Sector
HDI
Telephone
Mobile Phones
Export
Imports 7832,562
98%
2%
7,200
2,648
85.279
1,029
3,573
2023 3.00%
2021 11.4 %
2020 5.00
US$ 11,932 (2023)
US$ 41,412 (2023)
Services 60.7%
Industry 32.3%
Agriculture 6.8%
48
16.5 million
82.2 million
US$ 254 billion (2022)
US$ 363.7 billion (2022)