Turkey, with gross domestic product (GDP) of $754,412 billion, GDP per capita income of $9,042, a population of 83.9 million and an average annual growth rate of 5 per cent for the past 17 years, is a significant middle-range power, currently the nineteenth largest economy in the world, and a central regional player in the global system (World Bank 2019; Turkstat 2020). The first decade of the twenty-first century highlighted Turkey's rise as an emerging star in an unstable region that ran from the Balkans to the Middle East. Never colonized and straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey's strategically important location and dynamic young population have meant that it has a major influence in its neighbourhood and beyond. Turkey's location is important for its economic success and political prominence in the Middle East. Serving as a bridge between the European Union and the Middle East and wider Islamic world, Turkey is a major centre for commerce, finance and industry. It is a country that spans traditional North–South and East–West cultural divides, maintains a geographic focus on Africa and has increasingly central attention on post-Soviet states in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Turkey is not rich in fossil-based energy resources other than some high-sulphur and low-calorie coal, but it has significant levels of industry and a sizeable economy and is the only country in the region ranked among the top 20 economies of the world (World Bank 2009).

Many of Turkey's cities have been industrializing at a rapid rate and now participate in the global economy because of Turkey's location and young population, which both promote business and trade. Turkey has experienced one of the fastest rates of urbanization of any country in the world. Four of the world's ten fastest-growing cities are in Turkey.

Despite serious adverse shocks since the 2008 global financial crisis and the tragic civil war in neighbouring Syria, Turkey has shown strong indications that its status as an emerging market economy will continue for the next ten years and beyond. Turkey is categorized as an “upper-middle-income” country by the World Bank because its per capita income is between $3,976 and $12,275 (Serajuddin & Hamadeh 2020).