Privatization in Turkey: changing perceptions and methods of a decade

Abstract

Decreasing the role of state in economics generally and of public sector particularly has been a fashionable policy means since the 1980s, being implemented in both developed and underdeveloped countries Among the developing countries, Turkish experience in privatization has been initiated timely, yet it has been implemented discontinuously due to serious political obstacles. Appearing first on the policy agenda of the Motherland Party in 1983 and being a party of the "Neo-Liberal Economics" initiated with the Januaiy 24 Measures, privatization has been undertaken continually, but not continuously in Turkey up until today. However, the privatization of the 1990s differ from the 1980s in terms of its methods, objectives and assumptions. Although there are some similarities, privatization in the 1990s reflects the ideologies of the new coalition-government formed by the True Path Party and Social Democratic Populist Party in 1991. The second term of this coalition under the leadership of Tansu Çiller gave birth to a polarization and various confrontations about privatization even among the coalition partners which came to surface particularly after the April 5 Measures. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the Turkish privatization experiences both in the 1980s and 1990s, trying to show the similarities and differences by focusing on the changing perceptions about this particular policy in order to draw some lessons for future prospects.