The Recent History of Financial Crises in Turkey

The Turkish economy encountered several financial and economic crises since its foundation in 1923. However, the frequency of these crises has sharply increased in the aftermath of the liberalization policies implemented through 1980s as illustrated by the 1994, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2006, 2008-09 financial crises. In this paper, we aim to assess the causes and consequences of these crises from a comparative perspective. According to our descriptive analysis, the financial crises occurred in 1990s mostly result from domestic macroeconomic imbalances and banking sector weaknesses that are exacerbated by volatile capital in- and outflows; while the financial crises through 2000s are mostly related to external economic and financial problems.