Turkey and Latin America: A New Horizon for a Strategic Relationship

Abstract

After the impact of the economic and financial crisis of 2008-2009, Latin America and the Caribbean began to grow again 4.3% in 2011 and 3.0% in 2012, which totalize a GDP of US $5.6 trillion. One of the main factors for economic growth in the region has been the trade sector. Between 2004 and 2010 both the export and import of goods doubled while the percentage of total external debt to GDP decreased more than one third. In this context, Latin America is seen by Turkey as a land of opportunities to expand trade, build global alliances and find new investment alternatives for its focus on strategic projection in new markets. A stable trade policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean, starting with its “Promoting Trade Strategy with Latin American Countries” in 2006 and the expansion of the commerce, has positioned Turkey as an emerging trade partner in the last geographical frontier of Turkish foreign policy

Keywords

• Latin America, Turkey, foreign policy, trade partnership, diplomacy.

References

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2. Angus Maddison, The World Economy, OECD Publishing, 2006, p. 641. 5 Ibid., p. 81.
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5. Organization of American States, Informe de Políticas: La Crisis Económica Global; Efectos y Estrategias Politicas, Fifth Summit of the Americas, p. 4.
6. The acronym of Brazil, Russia, India and China created by the investment agency Goldman Sachs as the emerging powers of the 21st century. From 2006, the BRICs start a series of multilateral meetings. In 2010, South Africa entered the group formally; hence they are now the BRICS.
7. Mehmet Özkan and Birol Akgün, “Turkey’s Opening to Africa”, Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 48, No. 4 (2010), p. 528.
8. An inter-regional group formed by India, Brazil and South Africa to approach positions in multiple fields of their multilateral agenda.

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11. The principle of “zero problems with the neighbours” has served to secure its internal front so as to extend its influence in the region, though in 2011 this was subject to multiple pressures by the “overflow” of the “Arab Spring” on Syria and the increase in the Kurdish problem given the multiple terrorist attacks of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Analysts such as Joshua Keating or Svante Cornell argue that a series of important problems has given relative importance to this principle.
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20. Çelenk, “Turkiye’nin Latin Amerika Politikase 2010”, pp. 485-501.
21. This multilateral institution has existed since 1999 and was strengthened because of the international financial crisis of 2008/2009. It includes Germany, Canada, the USA, France, Italy, Japan, The United Kingdom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey.
22. Ten of the 65 countries that have observer status are from the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Tunis, Turkey and Yemen), which allows them to be better informed of the subjects on LAC. This has strengthened the political dialogue between the parties and has increased opportunities in the South-South cooperation cfr, De la Mora, Las relaciones de America Latina y el Caribe con el Medio Oriente, SELA, 2011, p. 42.
23. This group also includes some regional countries as Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Santa Lucia, San Vicente and Las Granadinas, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
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27. CIVETS is an acronym created by Robert Ward of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to identify emerging countries that have projections of high growth in the next few decades and could succeed the BRIC. The countries include Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa.