Settlement Structure of Turkey
From International Business Wiki
The Republic of Turkey, formed in 1923 after a tumultuous war and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, is an excellent example of a nation currently moving from traditional norms to a more “modern” way of life. Currently over nearly half of the population lives in large cities much like many Western Cultures. Although a secular country, the population of Turkey constitutes more than 99% Muslims, mainly following Sunni traditions of Islam with many also following Alevi and Shiite traditions (www.state.gov). The country is not only inhabited by Turks there is a cultural mix of Arab, Persian, Greek, Kurdish, Turkish, Armenian, Roman, Caucasian, and others. This has opened the door for many subcultures to form based on religion and ethnicity, for example the fact that nearly 12 million Turks identify themselves as Kurdish.
The area in which an individual lives greatly affects there quality of life and style of living.. There are several structure types for settlements in Turkey, specifically cities, towns, and villages. Of these three, cities, classified with populations of 20,000 or more constitute the largest type of the three groups. In the three cities of Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir alone nearly one-fourth of the total population occupies residence. These cities consist of well organized social and administrative groups which have aided in their steady growth since post World War II migration from rural areas. The Republic of Turkey economy has grown at an average of 7.9% over the last 5 years-one of the highest in the world according to the US State Department. This has created the ability for a larger middle class to appear and has aided in the growth of major cities
With populations of no less than 2000, towns vary in their structure depending on their individual conditions. The location and economic status of the town determines the features from settlement to settlement but it is evident that there is a larger focus on the family and dependency both socially and economically than the much larger cities. The third structure is the one with the largest percentage of the population, villages. In a way villages are the connection to the old ways of life. Most of the “traditional art forms such as weaving, pottery, woodworking and customs like wedding ceremonies, folk dramas, dances and festivals, some of which are obviously a continuation of Asian shamanistic and Anatolian dionysiac” (equinox.com) demonstrate a completely traditional and rural type of living. Though many of these agriculture-based economies now depend on machinery to farm, human labor is a necessity for many of these settlements.
The settlement type of Turkey can be used as a determining factor of how to determine where you would place specific aspects of a business. Depending on administrative, human resource, factory need and product would determine the success of a business in this nation. Furthermore, the difference of the traditional and Western lifestyles show a strict difference in the culture within the country which would need to be considered in how to approach markets. Realistically if you wanted to plant a factory in Turkey your best bet would be to place a factory near a town where the Human Labor is more abundant than near a village and they are more accepting of Western ways of life, while not disrupting the environment of a flustering urban city.
Equinox Website Culture and Politics of Turkey Retrieved October 27,2007 http://www.equinox.com.tr/eng/index.htm US State Department Information on Turkey Retrieved October 28, 2007 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3432.htm
