What is the Republic of Turkey at the end of the XX - beginning of the XXI century? What are the characteristic features of its economic, social, political and legal development during this period? What is the role, significance and degree of influence of the Islamic factor in the public life of modern Turkey? Finally, what changes have taken place in the international relations of this Middle Eastern State, as well as the Balkan State? Answers to these and other questions that are of particular importance, since the Republic of Turkey is the closest southern neighbor of Russia, can be found in the reviewed work.

The collection opens with an article by E. I. Urazova entitled "The Turkish Economy at the present stage", which is based on Turkish sources - statistical reviews, reference books, and various media. The author's picture of the development of the Turkish economy in the first years of the XXI century is quite instructive. Having experienced a severe financial and economic crisis in 2001 in the context of economic liberalization (GNP decreased by almost 10%), Turkey, however, was able, using to a large extent the "massive assistance of the West", not only to restore the previous high rates of economic growth, but also to achieve some degree of stabilization of the development of a number of sectors of its economy. national economy. However, this does not apply in any way to agriculture: now the country is increasingly meeting its needs primarily for grain, meat and dairy products, and cotton at the expense of imports. E. I. Urazova sees the main reason for the current situation in the traditional system of land ownership and land use, i.e., the predominance of small and even the smallest peasant farms in Turkey. In addition, over the past quarter-century, the country's population has grown by an average of 2% per year, while agricultural production has increased by 1.4%.

The undoubted advantage of this article is the author's predictive conclusions. Naturally, the planned agricultural reform, which provides for the transition to large-scale farming, will ultimately lead to a noticeable decrease in the number of rural population (from 27 million people to about 10 million) and its outflow to the city, which, in turn, will complicate the already acute problem of employment. The author's conclusion is quite justified that even " with a favorable domestic and external environment, Turkey will remain macro-economic instability, financial and technological dependence on the West in the current decade... remaining its economic periphery" (p. 16).

Important issues are discussed in the article "The role of cooperation with the IMF in Turkey's economic Policy (2000-2005)"by N. Y. Ulchenko. As you know, as a result of the parliamentary elections held on November 3, 2002, a government came to power in the country, created on the basis of the participation of only representatives of the pro-Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP), headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The author traces in detail the evolution of the AKP government's views on the IMF's "stabilization program" to provide the Turkish economy with external sources of financing. Indeed, in the initial period of this government's activity, there were even attempts to openly oppose the demands of the West to exercise strict control over public spending.

In the future, life made significant adjustments to the actions of the government of R. T. Erdogan, which was mentioned with satisfaction in a special statement of the association of large Turkish businesses TUSIAD, which emphasized that, although belatedly, the government still demonstrated its readiness to continue the stabilization economic program. Ulchenko's conclusions and forecasts are logical in this regard: "By using economic populism in the pre-election rhetoric, the AKP government, as the party in power, has shown realism, which means timely perception and reaction to the signals of the economy (market)... As a result, the AKP government will most likely provide itself with the opportunity to implement in the most responsible time period before the parliamentary elections:

Ulchenko N. Yu., Urazova E. I. Moscow: Institute of the Middle East, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2006, 238 p.

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more popular, but not economically destructive measures, if they are based on the foundation of real financial stabilization and sustainable economic growth" (p.26).

N. G. Kireev's article "On the formation of the ideology of the Ottoman conquests and its metamorphoses" is of undoubted interest. Relying on a solid base of the latest Turkish sources and literature, the author made a historical excursion into the distant past of the Turkish state, to its origins, formation, and later the apogee of military and political power, which, as is known, the Ottoman Empire reached by the middle of the XVI century.. Analyzing the reasons that led to that triumphant "Turkish march" across Europe, Asia and North Africa, the scientist highlights the Islamic factor, an effective tool of which is gazavat - " a war waged against non-Muslims in order to protect or spread the religion of Islam; holy war "(Explanatory Dictionary of the Turkish language). The value of N. G. Kireev's publication lies in its organic connection with modernity, relevance and topicality.

B. M. Potskhveria's articles "Islam in the Turkish Constitution", P. V. Shlykov's "Paradoxes of the revival of Waqfs in modern Turkey" and G. M. Ziganshina's "The role of religious orders of Turkey in the Islamist movement of the 80s-90s of the XX century" are devoted to the problem of the place of Islam in modern Turkey.

B. M. Potskhveria, with his usual thoroughness, examines the place given to Islam in the texts of the Turkish constitutions of 1921 and 1924. and in the new version of the basic law of 1937, depending on the implementation of the laicism (secularism) policy of the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Thus, in the first Constitution of Republican Turkey of January 20, 1921, article 7 stated that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey should be guided by "the provisions of religious law", i.e. comply with the requirements of Sharia law (p. 45). The Constitution of 1924 declared that "the religion of the State is Islam" (p. 47). But after the 1937 amendment to the 1924 Constitution, there was no mention of Islam. It is natural that the Turkish constitutions of 1961 and 1982, adopted after the death of M. K. Ataturk (1938), also did not mention Islam, but confirmed the secular nature of the Turkish state, although the overwhelming majority of the country's population professed and continues to profess this religion. B. M. Potskhveria gives an updated translation of Article 2 of Part One "General Principles" of the Constitution of 1982. which reads as follows: "The Republic of Turkey is a democratic, Laicist and social-legal state... those who profess the nationalism of Ataturk... " (p. 51).

The publications of P. V. Shlykov and G. M. Ziganshina reflect quite fully the realities of modern Turkey, which are characterized by the growing processes of "re-Islamization" (p. 84): the rapid construction of mosques both in rural areas and in cities; the widespread revival of waqfs, which is now acquiring a large-scale character; the noticeable strengthening of the role of various religious orders and sects; the functioning of special schools for the study of the Koran, the number of which is already estimated in the thousands; the presence of youth groups under the loud name "guardians of Islam". The eloquent fact given by P. V. Shlykov shows that Islam in Turkey is increasingly turning from "submissive" to militant. Thus, the Turkish version of the Encyclopedia of Islam (Islam Ansiklopedisi), prepared at the expense of the Religious Waqf, consisting of 30 volumes and published with an extremely unusual circulation of 120 thousand copies for such publications, "became a kind of settling accounts with the West and Republican history..." (p.82).

Looking at the articles on Islam, we can conclude that the Islamic factor has been making itself felt in the socio-political life of Turkey for about the last three decades. And in this regard, the question arises: is it able to subdue such a powerful " nut " as the secular Turkish Republic is today? After all, the Turkish army, the guarantor of Kemalism and Laicism, has not yet said its weighty word.

S. N. Uturgauri's article "Creation of the Higher Society of Culture, Language and History named after him" is interesting and instructive. Ataturk". Touching upon the history of the founding of the Turkish Historical Society by Kemal Ataturk on April 12, 1931, and the Turkish Linguistic Society on July 12, 1932, the author covers in detail the main directions and stages of activity of these unique scientific centers for Turkey, the independent nature of which was determined " both legally-by documents signed by the first President of the Republic, and solid financial support from personal funds of Ataturk confirmed by the relevant will"

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(p. 59). The fruitful work of various branch academies over several decades was due not only to the excellent material base, but also to the outstanding personality of Ataturk himself, who showed a keen interest in the events of national and world history, knew and loved Turkish literature deeply. All this inspired and obliged scientists-functionaries of both societies to prepare and publish their works at a high level.

The coup d'etat carried out by the Turkish army on September 12, 1980 was a turning point that qualitatively changed both the status and the purpose of these societies. As S. N. Uturgauri points out, " by fixing the elimination of the legal independence of the Turkish Linguistic and historical societies by legislative acts and creating the Higher Society of Culture, Language and History named after them. Atatürk, led by those who for many years opposed the liberal-democratic direction of the Linguistic Society, the Turkish authorities in fact provided the strongest support to the conservative forces not only in the field of linguistic science ... but also in the field of culture in general " (p. 65).

It can be said that the article by I. I. Ivanova "On the results of the 2004 referendum in Cyprus" is of an action-packed nature. After all, such a promising combination of favorable circumstances for solving the Cyprus problem has not yet occurred over the past thirty years. Indeed, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's rather balanced document "The Basis for a Comprehensive Solution to the Cyprus problem", presented in late 2002, met with unprecedented agreement from the new leader of the island's Turkish community, Mehmet Ali Talat, and with the approval of Turkey, Greece, and England, as well as with the support of the United States, its implementation met with stubborn opposition from the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Thassos Papadopoulos (also known as the head of the Greek community of the island). The author of the publication refers to the opinion of an influential Turkish political scientist S. Cohen that the negotiation process will soon continue and its result will be the implementation of the project of the United Cyprus Republic, in which the Turkish Cypriots will also become full members of the EU.

The complex and, one might say, burdensome nature of Turkey's initial relations with the EU is traced in A. G. Hajiyev's article "The process of Turkey's accession to the EU and the Copenhagen Criteria". The author outlines the content of various treaties, protocols, agreements and summits designed to regulate the relations of the Republic of Turkey with the EU. However, it is not clear how to explain such a long "preparatory period", the marathon distance of which is estimated at more than a third of a century.

To some extent, similar aspects of modern international relations in the Middle East are reflected in the articles of A. R. Nabiyeva "The Kurdish problem in the light of Turkey's integration into the EU" and A. E. Harutyunyan "On the issue of relations between Turkey and Syria in the late XX - early XXI centuries". Many of the data presented by the authors, which are directly related to the Kurdish problem, are impressive and striking. And the fact that the Kurds are now the largest ethnic group in the world (from 35 to 40 million people), deprived of their independent state, and that they make up more than a quarter of the total current population of Turkey (20 million out of 75 million), and that in today's Turkey they are "the object of the most severe cultural discrimination" (p. 155).

A. Harutyunyan's conclusion is very convincing: "In recent years, there has been a serious convergence of positions between Syria and Turkey on the main issues that have been a stumbling block for many decades of their relations... While territorial and water problems are more likely to be resolved, the Kurdish problem remains on the agenda not only in Syria and Turkey, but also in other countries with Kurdish populations - Iran and Iraq" (p.162).

Little-known material is reported in his article "Problems of adaptation of educational programs of the European Union in the education system of Turkey" by Yu. A. Li. The very fact that the current Turkey has started and is rapidly developing the projects of the EU general education program shows the validity of the author's statement that "the development of cooperation between Turkey and the European Union in this area will accelerate with the approach of the deadline for Turkey's admission to full EU membership" (p.150).

G. I. Starchenkov's article "Pipeline transport in Turkey enters a new stage" discusses ways to solve the most important problem of modern Turkey - the provision of the necessary reserves of hydrocarbon fuel. Currently, several international oil and gas pipelines are operating, being constructed and designed in the country. These include the now-completed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the successfully functioning Russian-Turkish pipeline.

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"Blue stream". It is planned to lay new oil and gas pipelines through Turkey from the Caspian states to Southern and Western Europe and North Africa. G. I. Starchenkov's conclusion is quite reasonable: already in the first years of the XXI century, Turkey is increasingly demonstrating its capabilities not only as a major consumer, but also as a transit country for oil and gas fuel.

"Some aspects of Turkey's economic cooperation with the subjects of the Russian Federation - the North Caucasus, the Volga region and the Urals" is the subject of S. L. Volkova's article. The author emphasizes that the formation of regional aspects of Russia's foreign economic policy is determined by a number of economic, geographical, ethnic and ethno-cultural factors. It is quite clear that the geographical proximity to Turkey, for example, of such regions of the Russian Federation as the Republic of Adygea, the Kabardino-Balkar and Karachay-Cherkess Republics, contributes to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation. We can also explain the growing Turkish oil imports from Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. As shown in the article, Turkey's trade and economic relations with the Russian Federation subjects under consideration include not only trade, but also investment cooperation (creation of joint ventures) and contracting and construction activities. At the same time, the author points out the instability of the situation in certain regions of the Russian Federation, which negatively affects the maintenance of such cooperation.

N. S. Gubanov's article "The role of the Diaspora in the system of Turkish-German economic relations"is devoted to Turkish labor immigration in Germany. Using numerous statistical data, the author justifies the appearance of this phenomenon in post-war Europe. The recovery and then truly stunning development of the West German economy in the 1950s and 1960s, of course, could only be achieved through extraordinary measures, including the use of cheap labor from other countries, primarily from Turkey. The corresponding German-Turkish agreement concluded on October 30, 1961 also served the interests of Turkey. Being quite an effective tool in the fight against unemployment, this agreement guaranteed a more or less stable inflow of foreign currency in the form of money transfers from immigrants from Germany. Since October 1961, the number of Turkish "guest workers" in Germany has significantly increased (in 2002, there were 2,637,000), and a significant part of them (730,000) have German citizenship. It is characteristic that Turkish immigrants transfer less and less foreign currency to their historical homeland, preferring the country of residence. This indicates the most powerful school of social and political education that many immigrant workers have received in an industrially developed country like Germany. One can only agree with N. S. Gubanov's conclusion that "the Federal Republic of Germany is currently demonstrating an example of the transformation of temporary workers - "guest workers"-into a national minority within German society, although small in Germany with 82 million inhabitants" (p.202).

In conclusion, it should be noted that the interested reader received a good help in their attempts to understand the processes taking place in modern Turkey and its immediate prospects.

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