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MITTEILUNGEN DER OSTERREICHISCHEN GEOGRAPHISCHEN GESELLSCHAFT, vol.133, pp.109-145, 1991 (SSCI)
The Republic of Turkey emerged as an independent and sovereign entity in 1923 after the First World War as the heritage of the Ottoman Empire. The new Republic of Turkey tried to take its place among all the democratic institutions that developed in Western Europe. During the last two decades Turkey also strengthened its political and economic relations with the Islamic world. This article deals with the political and economic relationship of Turkey with the industrialized countries on the one hand, and on the other hand, with the Islamic world. The eastern European countries have been also taken into consideration in this analysis. The EEC countries together with the remaining OECD countries have a big share in Turkey's foreign economic relations. Nearly 2.5 million Turkish citizens live nowadays as guestworkers or as family members in the western European countries.