Anatolian Tigers

Anatolian Tigers ( _tr. Anadolu Kaplanları) is a term internationally used in the context of the Turkish economy to refer to and to explain the phenomenon of a number of cities in Turkey which have displayed impressive growth records since the 1980s, as well as to a defined new breed of entrepreneurs rising in prominence and who can often be traced back to the cities in question and who generally rose from the status of SMEs [cite web | url= http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g714004530~db=all Citation| title = Anatolian Tigers: Prospects and Challenges|authors=Ömer Demir, Mustafa Acar, Metin Toprak|publisher=Middle Eastern Studies, Routledge| access date=2007-04-22|language=English ] .

Where particular cities are concerned, the term is most often used for the capitals or depending centers of Denizli, Gaziantep, Bursa, Kocaeli, Kahramanmaraş [cite web | url= http://mondediplo.com/1997/07/turkey Article| title = New Faces of Islam|authors=Wendy Christianasen|publisher=Le Monde Diplomatique| access date=1997-07|language=English ] . Within Turkey, the accent is laid on cities that have received little state investments or subsidies over the years. Çorum, Denizli, Gaziantep and Kahramanmaraş, in particular, are cited among the cities who "made it themselves". In time order, while Denizli in Turkey's Aegean Region was the early hour precursor for rapid growth in an Anatolian Tiger pattern [cite web | url = http://wz.uni.lodz.pl/ersa/abstr/ozgur_p.pdf 18th European Advanced Studies Institute in Regional Science| title = Integration of a Local Economy to the Global and European Markets through Export–Led Growth and Specialized Textile Products Export: Home Textile Production in Denizli – Turkey|author=Hüseyin Özgür, Pamukkale University|publisher=University of Lodz| access date=2007-04-18|language=English] , Gaziantep, Malatya, Konya and Kayseri are the most recently cited prominent Tigers on the basis of the number of companies they have among Turkey's 500 biggest. [cite web | url= http://search.ft.com/iab?queryText=Konya&id=061120005054&location=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ft.com%2FftArticle%3FqueryText%3DKonya%26id%3D061120005054&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.tr%2Fsearch%3Fq%3D%22anatolian+tigers%22 Article| title = Anatolian Tigers: Regions prove plentiful|authors=Pelin Turgut|publisher=Financial Times| access date=2006-11-20|language=English ] . These largest are the forerunners of further large companies and a multitude of smaller ones.

Aside from their production units, the definition generally excludes companies who have their headquarters in the largest cities of Turkey; namely İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, Bursa and Adana, as well as companies constituted with public capital.

The term is also echoed, in the form "Anatolian Lions" (Turkish: "Anadolu Aslanları"), by the name of the private sector association [http://www.askon.org.tr Askon] that brings together businessmen from a number of other cities who have found common grounds between each other. This association has branches in Ankara, Burdur, Bursa, Gebze, İzmit, Konya, Malatya and Trabzon. These lions are less often cited among the tigers for several reasons.

Other variations of the term, such "Turkey's Tigers" or "Turkish Tigers", as used by the PBS without excluding the most commonly used form of "Anatolian Tigers" have also been pronounced. [cite web | url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/turkey/filmmaker.html Filmmakers Notes| title = Wide Angle: Turkey's Tigers|author=Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill |publisher=PBS| access date=2007-04-22|language=English ] [cite web | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/08/15/DI2006081500692.html?nav=rss_business/international Transcript of discussion| title = Wide Angle: Turkey's Tigers|author=Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill |publisher=Washington Post| access date=2006-08-23|language=English ] Beyond their shared characteristics in an economical perspective, references have also been made, especially in international media, to different political connotations within the term, including by associating this capital with Islamic values or extending its whole under such definitions as "Islamic capital" or "green capital". The political choices and the voting trends of the cities and of particulars in question may differ widely between each other. A 2005 study by the [http://www.esiweb.org European Stability Initiative] that was focused on Kayseri uses the term "Islamic Calvinists" to define the entrepreneurs and their values [cite web | url=http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/esi_document_id_69.pdf Full text| title = Islamic Calvinists: Change and Conservatism in Central Anatolia |author=ESI |publisher=European Stability Initiative, Berlin| access date=2005-09-19|language=English ] .

Several business awards or conferences in Turkey draw reference from the term "Anatolian Tigers" or its variants.

All terms were initially borrowed on Asian Tigers.

Geographical distribution

According to [http://www2.iso.org.tr/en/index.asp Istanbul Chamber of Industry] 's annual ranking of Turkey's top 1000 industrial enterprises, the number of industrial enterprises among the Top 1000 in the cities which fit the best into the definition of Anatolian Tigers were as indicated in the table for 2005, the most recent ranking [ [http://www2.iso.org.tr/en/500buyuk_Default.asp Istanbul Chamber of Industry: Turkey's Top 1000 Industrial Enterprises] . The table excludes the Thrace-İstanbul-Bursa-Eskişehir-Ankara axis, the highly integrated İzmir-Manisa-Aydın and Çukurova regions, as well as the Turkish coastline until the coal basin in the western Black Sea Region. Southeastern Anatolia Project region, included in the count, currently displays only the first signs of its potential industrial might. Likewise, the recent opening of continuous highway along the Black Sea coast is expected to deeply influence the fortunes of the region along the shoreline. Aside those mentioned in the table, the urban centers who to date have one company that is represented among Turkey's top 1000 were: Bafra, Bucak, Bulancak, Çarşamba, Çorum, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Erzurum, İnebolu, Kars, Kastamonu, Kırşehir, Mardin, Rize, Siirt, Sivas, Suluova, Tokat and Yozgat. ] . Among these cities Trabzon has one company in top 25.

ee also

* Economy of Turkey
* Anatolian leopard

References

External links

* [http://www.askon.org.tr Association of Businessmen of Anatolian Lions]