Small business associations in Turkey: relations with big business and the state since the 1980s

Abstract

This thesis examines the proliferation of small business associations in thelast two decades in Turkey with an emphasis on the ideological diversification among them, as well as their relations with big business and the state. In order to make a detailed description, basic information about a total of 985 business associations is collected from the Chief Office of Associations, and from scanning newspapers, the Internet and documents of business associations. The result of the analysis reveals that until the early 1980s the total number of voluntary business associations in Turkey did not exceed 50. After 1983, which corresponds to the beginning of the new export-oriented economic program, there was an upward trend,as a result of which the total number reached around 1,000 by 2006. In the analysis,all business associations that refer to an identity such as religion, ethnicity, gender, age and region/locality, or an ideology such as nationalism, Kemalism and conservatism are considered as "cultural/ideological business associations." The number of cultural/ideological business associations started to increase in the 1990s. In addition, while associations other than cultural/ideological ones have been always dominant in the three big cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, in other Anatolian cities business associations that are founded upon a cultural or an ideological identity have been dominant from the 1990s onwards. This analysis is followed by a detailed examination of four business associations, all of which have a reference to a cultural identity or a political ideology. The results of this analysis show that the role ofidentity or ideology in the foundation of business associations differs to a greatextent. While identity is the only binding element in some associations, in otherscommon economic interests appear to be more important in ensuring the long-term sustainability and success of the association.