General information from the territory 

(Source: the official websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic)

Turkey currently represents the largest economy in the Middle East followed by Iran and Saudi Arabia.  The Turkish economy is also the 7th largest economy in Europe and the 17th largest economy in the world, which had a GDP of approx. 800 billion USD in 2012.  Turkey is a member of the G20 group and the EU customs union. 

The IMF defines the Turkish economy as a developing market economy, which makes Turkey one of the world’s newly industrialized countries.  The country is among the world producers of agricultural products, textiles, motor vehicles, ships and other transportation machinery, building materials, customer electronics and household appliances. The private sector has been growing fast over the last few years. The state still retains a significant role in sectors such as industry, banking, transportation and communications. Turkey can thus be characterized as an industrialized country where agriculture, however, still plays an important role.  Industry represents 26.6 % of the GDP, services are 63.7 % and agriculture is 9.6 %.

Turkey is an open economy.  Foreign trade represents 48.7 % of the GDP (note: for comparing the percentages of exports of goods and services with CZ, it makes up approx. 80 % of the GDP, and foreign influences are extremely important for its economic development). Since 1990, Turkey has been strengthening its economic liberalization and opening new markets for its exporters and supports their deliveries.  The Turkish government's aim is to reach 500 billion USD from exports by 2023. In 2012, exports have risen by 13.1 % to 152.6 billion USD (in July 2012, the government's estimate for this year was a 143.7 billion USD Turkish export volume). The situation with imports is different. The total imports exceeded 236.5 billion USD last year. Imports have been gradually falling in the last few years.  In comparison with the previous year, imports have fallen by 1.8 %, and yet another year before that, the imports have decreased by 1.2 %.  Thus, the foreign trade balance reaches -84 billion USD. The negative balance of the foreign trade balance has decreased significantly (-20.7 %) in comparison with 2011. However the deficit, which is still high, represents a significant problem for the Turkish economy.  The export estimate for 2013 is approx. 160 billion USD and already 172 billion USD for 2014 (for details, see chapter Foreign Trade).