2023 vision


The 2023 vision is a list of goals released by the administration of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2010 and 2011, to coincide with the centenary of the Republic of Turkey in 2023.

Elements of the 2023 vision

Economy

Progress on economic goals
Policy2009201120142016201820232023 Target
Top ten world economies 17th17th17th17th18th10th
Top ten world economies 17th15th13th13th13th10th
Gross domestic product $0.644 trillion$0.832 trillion$0.934 trillion$0.863 trillion$0.771 trillion$2.00 trillion
Gross domestic product $1.13 trillion$1.41 trillion$1.78 trillion$1.99 trillion$2.30 trillion$2.00 trillion
Per capita income $8,880$11,140$12,020$10,820$9,410$25,000
Per capita income $15,640$18,910$22,970$24,980$28,040$25,000
Annual exports$102 billion$135 billion$157 billion$142 billion$168 billion$500 billion
Foreign trade volume$0,24 trillion$0,38 trillion$0,40 trillion$0,34 trillion$0,39 trillion$1,00 trillion
Employment rate24.2 million26.3 million28.7 million30.2 million32.6 million30 million
Unemployment rate13.1%9.1%9,9%10,9%11,0%5%

Energy

Turkey's foreign-policy objectives and vision as articulated by former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu:
In 2016, President Erdogan called for a referendum after Britain's decision on leaving the European Union.

Health care

Progress on tourism goals
Policy2009201120142016201820232023 Target
Fifth largest tourist destination6th6th6th10th6th5th
Amount of tourist visitors27,3 million31,3 million36,8 million25,3 million39,4 million50,0 million
Tourism revenue$25,1 billion$28,1 billion$34,3 billion$22,1 billion$29,5 billion$50,0 billion

Effects on the progress of 2023 vision

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt

On the summer of 2016, a coup d'état was attempted in Turkey against state institutions, including the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The attempt was carried out by a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council. They attempted to seize control of several key places in Ankara, Istanbul, and elsewhere, but failed to do so after forces loyal to the state defeated them.
During the coup, over 300 people were killed and more than 2,100 were injured. Many government buildings, including the Turkish Parliament and the Presidential Palace, were bombed from the air. Mass arrests followed, with at least 40,000 detained, including at least 10,000 soldiers and 2,745 judges. A significant amount of tourist cancelled their trip to Turkey.

2018 Turkish currency and debt crisis

The Turkish currency and debt crisis of 2018 was a financial crisis in Turkey. It is characterized by a plunging value of the Turkish lira, high inflation, rising borrowing costs and corresponding loan defaults.
Under the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has been running huge and growing current account deficits, reaching $7.1 billion by January 2018, while the rolling 12-month deficit rose to $51.6 billion. By the end of 2017, the corporate foreign-currency debt pile in Turkey had more than doubled since 2009, to $214 billion after netting against their foreign-exchange assets, equal to about 40 percent of economic output, with about 80 percent held by domestic banks.
Year200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
USD/TRY1.3441.4281.3031.3021.5501.5031.6751.7961.9042.1892.7203.0203.6484.8285.674

In 2018, the lira's exchange rate accelerated deterioration, reaching a level of US$4.5/TRY by mid-May. Among economists, the accelerating loss of value was generally attributed to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan preventing the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey from making the necessary interest rate adjustments. Erdogan, who claimed interest rates beyond his control to be "the mother and father of all evil", said that "the central bank can't take this independence and set aside the signals given by the president."

The "Mastermind" conspiracy theory

In 2014, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan coined the term "mastermind" to denote the alleged command and control institution, somewhat ambiguously placed with the government of the United States, in a comprehensive conspiracy to weaken or even dismember Turkey, by orchestrating every political actor and action perceived hostile by Turkey. Erdoğan as well as the Daily Sabah have on multiple occasions alleged that very different non-state actors — like the Salafi jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Anarcho-Marxist Kurdistan Workers' Party and the Islamist cult with political ambitions around Fethullah Gülen — were attacking Turkey at the same time in a well-coordinated campaign. A notable instance of promoting the "Mastermind" conspiracy theory was in February 2017 Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek claiming that earthquakes in the western province of Çanakkale could have been organized by dark external powers aiming to destroy Turkey's economy with an "artificial earthquake" near Istanbul.
In the campaign for the 2018 general election in Turkey, a widespread conspiracy theory, infused with antisemitism, claimed that the Turkish lira's decline were the work of a shadowy group, made up of Americans, English, Dutch and "some Jewish families" who would want to deprive incumbent President Erdogan of support in the elections. According to a poll from April 2018, 42 percent of Turks, and 59 percent of governing AK Party voters, saw the decline in the lira as a plot by foreign powers.