The Turkish republic is the residual part of a state that had a very complex and far from flourishing economy, not so much because the climatic and environmental conditions were unfavorable, but rather because of the bad governance of the sultan’s regime, regardless of the well-being of the his subjects, who, not very persevering and calculating by their nature, not seeing themselves helped, had increasingly gone into debt, to the point of granting foreigners rights that came to seriously shake the freedom and the economy of the country, including the other is that of being able to place only very low duties on imported goods. All life, moreover, was centered on the religious factor and the theocratic government was unable to understand problems that did not concern its own advantage. On the other hand, since local resources consisted of agricultural products, the need for processed goods was satisfied from abroad, but mostly through unscrupulous intermediaries, who bought Turkish products at low prices (tobacco, raisins, figs, hazelnuts, cotton), while the grain itself, which was the most widespread agricultural crop, had to be widely imported. If we add that the communications were very bad, the backward cultivation methods, the high tithes, the non-existent agricultural credit, the poorly maintained forests, the breeds of livestock in the process of progressive impoverishment, we will have a picture of the not flourishing conditions of Turkey, the which in the period from 1878 to 1915 he would have had to pay abroad to pay off the balance of trade about 30 billion lire, but, unable to do so, he had had to borrow continuously. Foreign capital had therefore had easy access and, even if nominally independent, Turkey could be considered from an economic point of view a colony of European states. The republic has therefore found itself having to deal with an infinity of problems and many have actually been solved by it. For Turkey business, please check cheeroutdoor.com.
The trade balance, which in the pre-war period always marked a considerable imbalance to the detriment of Turkey, gradually settled down, especially after (1929) some concessions that Turkey had made to the states that signed the treaty expired. Lausanne and the protective tariffs have closed the market to many foreign products. On the other hand, the greater production of cereals also contributed to the improvement, which once insufficient (1924 and 1929: 800 and 600 thousand quintals imported) could instead give rise to a moderate export more recently. To prevent the commodities from rising too much in price for the action of speculators, a special company was created (I Ş Limited), which mainly deals with exports. Furthermore, the quotas of exchanges have been put into action. For the last decade, v. table below.
The main countries with which Turkey maintains commercial relations are: as regards imports (1933), Germany (25.5% of the total value), the United Kingdom (13.5%), Italy (11.4%).); then at a distance Belgium (6.7), France (6.6), Russia (5.2); as regards exports, Germany (18.9), Italy (13.5), the United States (10.5), the United Kingdom (8.9), France (6.4), Russia (4.6). Imports in 1933 main consisted of leathers (1.5 million Turkish lira), wool and fur yarns (3.1), wool fabrics (2.8), sugar and sweets (1.6), coffee, cocoa, tea (2.6), paper and paper articles (3.3), cotton yarn (3.0), cotton fabrics (5.5), glass (1.7), iron and steel (9.0), machines (6.7), means for land transport (2.2), fuels and mineral oils (2.8), colors (1.4), chemical and medical products (2.0). Among exports main ones, it should be remembered: live animals (5.3 million Turkish liras), butter (4.9), skins (1.7), wool yarns (4.4), cereals (7.6), fruit (2, 0), oil (3,4) tobacco (21,3), wood and coal (4,9), cotton (1,7), antimony (2,6). It is noted that, overall, among the exported goods the importance of tobacco and cotton decreases, while that of cereals and fruit increases. For leaf tobacco, the main buyers are Germany (10,400 tons), the United States (5 thousand), Czechoslovakia (2.7 thousand), Italy (1.3 thousand, in significant decline). For dried grapes also Germany (21 thousand tons), the United Kingdom (9370), Holland (5800), Italy (3500) and France (1130). For figs the United Kingdom (6600 tons), Germany (6300), France (3500), Italy (3115), the United States (2450).
