Corporate governance in Turkey: an overview and some policy recommendations

Both international and domestic developments have combined to bring the corporate governance (CG) debate to the fore in Turkey. Given this increased interest in CG matters and the significance of Turkey as an emerging market, we provide an overview of the Turkish CG framework with two objectives in mind: (i) contributing to the growing CG literature by presenting the main aspects of the CG practice in Turkey, and (ii) locating the Turkish CG reform agenda within the global debate especially as it relates to the practice in emerging markets. We begin with a review of the CG debate as it relates to emerging markets. We then provide an account of the socio-economic environment within which the Turkish CG debate is unfolding. This is followed by an examination of the external (market-related) and internal (firm-related) dimensions of the Turkish CG framework. Finally, we summarize the main findings and offer some recommendations for a successful reform initiative in Turkey.