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Is Turkey a safe place to invest in property in 2010? - 24 September 2010

A referendum took place in Turkey on the 12th of September 2010. Favourable support was shown for the current government, lead by the conservative AK Party, to make changes to the constitution. Almost 60% voted in favour of changes to the constitution on 26 key points covering a variety of topics.

The three contentious issues where the appointment of Judges in the supreme court of appeals, the role of army within Goverment, and the prosecution of participants the torture of alleged extremists during the 1980’s coup.

The appointment of judges needed to be amended as is was found that high ranking judges in the Supreme Court were voting for one another - thereby preventing a fair system based on performance. It is proposed that out of the 21 judges; three will now be appointed by Government, ten by the lower court judges and the remaining eight by current Supreme Court judges. This system should prove to be more equitable for all and provide fresh appointments to rejuvenate the Turkish highest judiciary.

Turkey in the 1980’s was a place where fierce political battles took place between the liberal left and conservative right. The guidelines set out - by the Great Ataturk –in the 1920’s constitution were being contested. The government was being pulled either way by divergent political and religious ideologies. What started off as rhetoric, evolved into a bloody political dispute, with up to ten people being murdered each week from the opposing forces Eventually the army had to step in and make arrest of the top members of each faction. They were successful in bringing about peace however the witch hunt that ensued lead to the alleged torture of hundred of innocent people. One of the points of the referendum was to open investigations and potentially prosecute those involved.

The past twenty years have been very peaceful in Turkey however the army still has the power, according to the 1980’s constitution, to get involved in politics. The positive support of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, in the referendum, to limit the Jandarma’s (army) power has been well received by European powers. This firmly sets Turkey’s constitution as one of the most democratic and certainly comparable to European countries. This is a potentially a further step in right direction if Turkey wishes to join the European Union but certainly an indication that Turkish government is well supported and stable.

You can conclude that Turkey is a political stable country and from figures presented by the September 2010 survey by the organisation for economic co-operation and development that show year end GDP of 6% it definitely could be a great time to buy Turkish property.

Graham Flaherty
Head of property sourcing and analysis
http://www.propertymarket-investment.co.uk/