Turkey Facing the Challenges of Becoming a EU Member

With ongoing formal accession negotiations that would see Turkey become a permanent, fully-fledged member of the European Union and European Economic Council, political and economic communications between EU members and the Southeast European Republic will reach a fever-pitch over the next decade.

Extending beyond mere diplomatic courtesies and foreign policy gestures, these developments should bring numerous widespread changes to Turkish economic and cultural life in the coming years. Rapidly increasing international trade and foreign direct investment signify the emergence of a new Turkey, with exports to the European Union and United States having exceeded US$100 Billion in 2007, and foreign investment in the country reaching US$20Billion for the first time in Turkish history.

Tourism statistics over the past twenty years have seen similarly astronomical growth, with foreign visitors set to exceed 30 million in 2010: more than triple the numbers posted as recently as 1998, and putting Turkey in the Top 10 most visited countries worldwide. Such mass influxes of European, Asian and North American tourists have seen an injection of capital to the tune of US$22 Billion into the Turkish economy by foreign nationals visiting the country during the 2009 calendar year.

In addition to traditional holidays and vacations, an increasing number of European nationals call Turkey home, or at least call it their second home. A large portion of foreign investment in the Turkish Republic has come in the property sector, often in the form of coastal cottages, vacation rental properties, seaside hotels and villas or homes in the sun for British, German, French and Dutch holidaymakers and would-be expatriates.

With the opening of such fast-paced, rapidly growing investment and tourism sectors it is no surprise that international telecoms firms have followed the foreign money currently flowing into the Turkish Republic. Mobile providers such as O2 have capitalized on a lucrative up and coming market for mobile communications in the country, and online telecoms firms have clocked on to the fact that providing cheap calls to Turkey represents a highly competitive and similarly lucrative business opportunity.

Global recession aside, the economic development currently taking place in the country shows no signs of abating, and so the Turkish summer tourist season, complete with intensive property development and marketing campaigns, should be in full swing by the time you read this.