Southeastern Anatolia Project (Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi) in Politics of Modern Turkey
Abstract
The purpose of the study is to clarify the goals and significance of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (Turkish abbreviation – GAP – Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi), which is a multi-sectoral integrated regional development project based on the concept of sustainable development of the southeastern region of Turkey.
An important component of the GAP was that, along with solving issues of a purely economic nature, it always aimed to improve the social situation of the population of the traditionally underdeveloped southeastern regions.
The scientific novelty is determined by the absence of a special comprehensive study, which would address the origins, territorial scope, and natural features of the GAP. Of no less importance is the fact that because Turkey aspired to join the European Union, the relevant institutions of the European Community set a direct and concrete task for it, which involved solving a whole set of socio-political and socio-economic problems that affected the living conditions of the largest stable ethnic community that still does not have its statehood – the Kurds.
Conclusions. The socio-economic and political significance of the GAP is in the fact that its implementation allows to balance the development of the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey and to bring the standard of living of their population in line with those that were inherent in the population of the western and northwestern regions of the country. One of the most important achievements of the GAP is that its implementation will ensure the production of hydroelectric power through the use of water resources of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It should be noted that the GAP made it possible to create a sufficient number of jobs and thereby eliminate the chronic unemployment of the local population, and therefore significantly reduce the socio-economic and socio-political tension that existed in these territories until recently.
The importance of the GAP is also in the fact that its implementation will allow Turkey to play the role of a regional leader in the Middle East, as well as claim the place of the ‘breadbasket of the Middle East’, especially in the Arab world.
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