==TURKEY==

My grandfather was visiting Istanbul, the cultural capital of Turkey. He had lived in Istanbul until 1950, and then moved to a small town in Turkey. He was astonished when he saw a skyscraper standing in the garden he once raised beans in. "Look how my beans have become giants like in fairy tales!" he cried out. It was natural that he was surprised. Really, Turkey underwent some radical changes in a relatively short time, and Istanbuls's population increased by 20-fold since 1950. With the effects of internal migration form rural areas to urban centers in the east-west direction, Turkey began to transform from an agriculture-based country to an industrialized one. Internal migration has played a very improtant role n Turkey's economy. It has affected not only the development of industry and the growth of capitalism but also caused social stratification and a decline in agriculture and changed the government's economical policy as well.
Internal migration accelerated Turkey's transition to an industrial society and expanded the share of industry in gross domestic product (GDP) strikingly. While some people were seeking to have jobs and just to make their living in cities, some wealthy people were seeking to multiply their money. Therefore, the demand for labor supply and labor force increased. Factories and companies in the industrial sector, which includes metals, steel, electronics and electric equipment, petroleum refining, chemicals, glass production, food, tobacco processing, and textiles began to be opened one after the other. "The industrial sector expanded its share in GDP from 12 percent in 1950 to nearly 25 percent in 1990" (Mohammedi 194). It seems that the expansion will continue in the future if internal migration does not stop.
Internal migration has led to the rise of capitalism, which sharpened the distinction between upper and lower classes in Turkey. Immigrants, especially form the eastern part of Turkey, made up a great deal of labor potential in the western cities of Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, and Ankara, the capital of Turkey. A minority of about 10 percent of the population in the cities, who had enough capital to begin an enterprise, made enormous amounts of money using this labor potential. For example, constuction firms of Turkey, which do not need skilled employees, are among the leading firms in this sector in the world. As a famous Turkish architect, Cahide Aydin stated, "Turkish firms in this sector made business deals of 11 billion US dollars and 18 billion US dollars of construction around the world in the years of 1995 and 1996 respectively" (Aydin, 1997). On the other hand, this large labor potential has led to the cheap labor force. Industrial workers, so-called blue collar workers, are earning very low incomes in Turkey compared to their counterparts in the first world countries. For instance, an immigrant from poor farming ground can only be an unskilled worker in the informal sector of the urban economy, and can get a salary of just 200 dollars. With this salary he can only make his living and barely support his family. While well-off people's money is making money, people in the lowest class are making no headway. Therefore, the distinction between the people in the upper and lower classes in Turkurkey is growing rapidly.
While we are witnessing an industrialization trend in Turkey, we are also observing an evident decline in agriculture. In the mid-1990's, in terms of food, Turkey was one of the few self-sufficient countries in the world. However, some hard-working Turkish farmers began to leave their fields because rural production disintegrated due to the lack of the State's support and urban life offered superior job opportunities. Due to the loss of its workers and government policy in favor of industry, "agriculture's share in overall income has fallen progressively, declining from almost 50 percent of GDP in 1950 to around 15 percent of GDP by 1993" (Mohammedi 176). People who chose to remain in their fields could not organize well, were slow to adopt modern techniques, and suffered from insufficient mechanization. The consequence has been low yields. Turkey began to import food, such as grain and meat, although it has enough fertile soil and broad grasslands to produce its own.
Internal migration prompted the Turkish government ot reconsider its economical policy and made some crucial decisions. With the effects of internal migration they came face to face with the truth that a bird is unable to fly by only using one wing. They understood that not only industry but also agriculture should be supported to ascend to the level of the first-world countries. There was a big gap between the investments made in industry and agriculture. In order to close the gap, the govern- ment put into practice the Southeast Anatolia Project named as "GAP", one of the largest infrastructure projects ever realized in the world, to support agriculture and develop the eastern part of Turkey. The project comprises a set of thirteen major projects planned by the State Hydraulic Works for irrigation and hydroelectric production. Ataturk Dam, which is a part of the project and the largest irrigation and energy facility of Turkey, began to operate but has not reached full capacity. As is stated in the booklet of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, upon reaching full capacity, Ataturk Dam will increase Turkey's total energy production by one third and the total agricultural production in the irrigated area by 6-fold. A major component of Turkey's ambitious US 32 billion GAP Project, Urfa tunnels, the world's largest irrigation tunnels, was inaugurated on November 9, 1994. Upon the completion of the entire project, agricultural production in the eastern part of Turkey will increase by 2- fold (12). Probably, after the completion of the project, internal migration, which was formerly in the east-west direction, will reverse its direction due to the growing job opportunities in the east.
We cannot label the effects of internal migration in Turkey as good or bad be- cause they vary according to our criteria and different perspectives. It is obvious that internal migration has affected Turkey's economy on a very large scale. Internal migration was favorable for causing the development of of industry and prompting the government ot initiate the GAP project. However, it also played a big role in the formation of social stratification and caused a decline in agriculture. Certainly, the GAP project will decrease the speed of internal migration in the east-west direction and maybe reverse the direction to west-east. The eastern part of Turkey will begin to develop as well. Perhaps my grandfather will again be surprised when he sees another legendary being while visiting the eastern part of Turkey in the future.

Works Cited

Mohammedi, Fareed. Turkey: A Country Study. Washington D.C., Library of Congress Cataloging, 1996.
-----. Booklet. Recent Developments in Turkish Economy. Ankara: The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, June 1995.
-----. Personal Interview with Cahide Aydin, 12/23/1997.