Energy policies of Turkey during the period 1923–2003

Abstract Turkey has been developing since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Turkish Government played a leading role in energy production and in energy use, as well as in other fields, and implemented several policies to increase electricity production. By 1950s, thermal power plants were used commonly in electricity production. In the following years, hydroelectric power plants were put into operation in order to use the considerable amount of water resources of the country. Coal-fired power plants using national resources accounted for 70–80% of the thermal electricity production. After 1960s, oil, an imported resource, was replaced with national resources due to two petroleum crises. Therefore, the proportion of use of lignite in the energy field increased. By 1980s, energy production lead by the government went on. Afterwards, applications of liberal economy policies resulted in implementation of different energy production methods, and the country had a increasing tendency to meet energy demand by imports as a result of improvement in international economic relations. Natural gas became prevalent in the country as well as all over the world and accounted for 45% of the electricity production in 2003. In this paper, implemented policies in the energy field during different periods since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 was investigated.