Evaluation Note / M. Coşkun Cangöz

It has been two months since the May 14, 2023 General Elections. Depending on the election results, the question "Is nationalism rising in Turkey?" has come to the agenda. Thus, while the votes of the nationalist segment represented by the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were around 3-5 percent in the 1970s, the proportion of voters represented by newly established parties such as the Grand Unity Party (BBP), the Reformist Democracy Party (later Millet Party) and the parties that recently split from the MHP (İyi Party, Zafer Party) pushed the level of 25 percent in the May 2023 elections.

With the appointment of Mehmet Şimşek as the Minister of Treasury and Finance at a time of rising debate on nationalism, the debate on “return to rationalization” in the economy has become the dominant topic on the agenda. Later, tax increases came to the fore to reduce the budget deficit, which is expected to be at record levels. The increases in corporate taxes, VAT rates, and fees were followed by a massive increase in special consumption tax (SCT) on petroleum products.

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