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Excessive transportation costs can be linked to the gas price in Turkey which is the highest in Europe and probably in the world too. We pay nearly 3.50 for a liter of regular gasoline. To fill a 55 liter car tank you pay 192 Liras or 157 Dollars. An Iranian businessman who was in my car when I was filling it up said I had just paid enough money to get him a years worth of gas in Iran. I have a small economy class sedan; for the money I paid on it you could buy a decent BMW or Mercedes in Germany. In lira terms it consumes as much as a six cylinder sports sedan does elsewhere. Energy, telecommunication and imported goods as well as alcoholic beverages are extremely expensive in this country. Once a French friend of mine told me when we were talking about our wine habits, he would pay just a couple of euros for a regular table wine and on special occasions he would look for a decent wine in the 10-15 Euro range. Well in Turkey, unless you don´t want to end up with dog poison you must think of spending 10-15 for a regular table wine and twice as much for a decent one.
I have found America is way cheaper than Turkey in electronics; many Europeans believe they are more expensive but apart from certain things like water, fruits and vegetables they tend to be cheaper from basic necessities point of view. If a luxury item is made in Europe, it is still a lot cheaper there since the price runs up dramatically because of taxes and expenses.
There are several reasons behind this problem:
* Turkey finances its huge budget deficit through high taxes sometimes amounting to several times the basic cost of an item (e.g. gas prices, car prices).
* Turkey is not producing much enough and efficiently enough. In the mindset of Turks, the ultimate financial target is becoming a shop owner, sitting on a chair day in day out expecting customers. Much of the money circulates in the services sector which again does not produce any tangible value or products. All the auxiliary sectors supporting the locomotive sectors like construction, textile (RIP), tourism etc depend mostly on imported commodity, technology, branding etc.
There are attempts to change this. I see domestic mall chains originating in an Anatolian town (Bursa) and spreading in other neighboring cities creating considerable employment and added economical dynamism to those regions.
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). But, seriously, there are places in Cyprus and Ibiza that have been badly affected by the antics of a certain type of British tourist and I would hate the same to happen in Turkey.
