Political Factors
As a founder member of the United Nations and a member of NATO since 1952, Turkey is considered to be a politically stable country, despite ongoing squabbles with Greece over the divided island of Cyprus and various air and sea boundaries of the Aegean Sea. The Cyprus issue has been an ongoing problem for many years and has now become one of the main points of contention in Turkey's accession negotiations with the EU. The Turkish government has much interest therefore in coming to a resolution with Greece and concerted efforts are being put into place to put an end to the dispute, while working at a diplomatic solution with Greece. Greece is seen to actively support Turkey in its bid, since 2005 for EU accession. This process is thought to take at least 15 years due to the great size of Turkey and its political situation.
Despite continuing to foster relations with the Eastern world, Turkey is progressively integrated with the West and is currently proactively implementing necessary measures to qualify it for EU membership in the near future.
Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy with a President, currently Ahmet Necdet Sezer, at the head of state elected in 2000 for a seven year term. Executive power is however given to the Prime Minister and the council of ministers that make up the government, while legislative power is given to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. |
General Factors |
