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İqtisadi və Siyasi Elmlər Jurnalı.
№ 4 (9) 2017
restrictive economic environment of the USSR. This case underscores the
importance of state actors in creating an initial impetus for the process of
rapprochement, from which private participants clearly won.
As soon as the initial impulse was created, the organizational
capabilities of the Turkish private sector operating under the auspices of
DEIK and the Turkish-Russian Business Council proved crucial in
Turkey's ability to expand trade and investment ties with the USSR.
Indeed, a number of leading Turkish construction companies, such as
ENKA, ALARKO and TEKFEN, began to establish strong positions in
Russia, as well as in other Soviet republics in the late 1980s. This, in turn,
provided the basis for strengthening economic relations both with the
Russian Federation and with the wider post-Soviet space, this process
continued at an accelerated pace after the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Turgut Ozal, the architect of economic programs and the integration
process with the world economy, was a key figure in supporting strong
initiatives of private corporations and associations. This strong support was
significant at a time when key segments of the Turkish economic
bureaucracy reluctantly supported a major expansion of economic relations
with Russia. It was during this period that entrepreneurs began to
accompany Ozal in state visits to the USSR. Ozal symbolized state
support, which contributed to the instilling of confidence from Soviet state
institutions that regulate trade and investment. This strategy has increased
the ability of private firms and their collective associations, such as DEIC,
to overcome strong barriers to trade and investment in the economy.
The collapse of the USSR and the subsequent systemic and regional
transformation created new challenges, as well as opportunities for
expanding cooperation. In the post-Cold War period, we can identify two
different phases in Turkish-Russian relations. The end of the cold war in
the early 1990s led to a new phase of relations; this first stage was
characterized by considerable cooperation in the economic sphere.
Particularly in the context of the early 1990s, there was a significant
degree
of complementarity between the economies of Turkey and the Russian
Federation (and also with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)
.Turkey depended on Russian deliveries of oil and natural gas, while
Turkey, sector in a mixed economic system, had good opportunities for the
return of consumer goods and construction services in exchange.In the
1990s, trade between Turkey and Russia significantly expanded.
However, these relations were characterized by significant elements of
the conflict in the midst of economic and diplomatic cooperation.
The main