Turkey face a crucial Euro 2008 Group A qualifier against Switzerland this evening. However, it's not just on the football pitch that Turkey is facing a critical period.
According to Today's Zaman, an English-language Turkish newspaper, a recent Constitutional Court decision to annul a popular amendment that would have expanded freedoms in Turkey has led to increased uncertainties surrounding the country's political system. This in turn, the paper reports, is having an impact on Turkey's economy.
The Economist magazine recently estimated that the growth rate of Turkey's gross domestic product will be 3.2 per cent by the end of this year, in contrast to previously made Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predictions which projected Turkey's economic growth rate at closer to 4 per cent for the year.
One way in which the country has expanded its economy in recent years has been from increased property interest from overseas buyers - particularly Brits.
According to Turkish Statistical Institute figures, around 73,000 foreigners own a property in Turkey at present - and not just for investment purposes. The figures showed that 14 per cent of tourists who visited Turkey in the first quarter of this year stayed in their own property, although with property values across the country appreciating at between 20 and 25 per cent a year, there is plenty for the investor to get excited about as well.
Therefore, Turkey's future economic strength could rely largely on continued overseas property interest.
Unfortunately, though, some experts, including investment specialists Assetz, believe that current buying confidence in Turkey at the moment is not as high as it has been. "The Turkish government temporarily suspended the title deeds to foreign investors in April - not for the first time," stated the company's latest quarterly Investment Tracker. "The rental potential is not high enough to attract already wary European investors."
However, according to Julian Walker of Spot Blue, Turkey may hold major appeal to Britain's newest demographic group, known as FREDs.
FREDs are over fifties who are 'facing retirement earnings doubts', and Walker believes that people within this demographic who are in a position to do so will increasingly view an overseas retirement where their pension and savings income will go that much further. And Turkey, he says, would fit this bill.
"Countries that are less likely to be considered now because of the gulf between the buying power of the weak Pound against the mighty Euro are Spain, France and Cyprus – traditionally hugely popular overseas retirement hotspots with British pensioners," says Walker. "Instead, FREDs are looking at where the pound buys them more and where their relatively limited funds will afford them an attractive and even affluent lifestyle in retirement and prevent them having to continue working past retirement age."
He continues: "One country that is proving popular is Turkey; since the nation began EU accession talks at the same time as a national drive was effected to promote the appeal of the country, the numbers of Britons choosing to relocate to the country has soared, and depending on which statistics you prefer to believe, between 12,000 and 30,000 Brits have now made Turkey their permanent home."
One Brit who has already made Turkey his home will be looking to assist with another, more immediate, problem facing the country in the Swiss Alps this evening. London-born Colin Kazim-Richards, who now plays for Istanbul-based Fenerbache having had stints at Bury, Brighton and Hove Albion and Sheffield United, qualifies to play for Turkey through his Turkish-Cypriot mother, and after a fairly impressive game in the 2-0 defeat against Portugal on Saturday, will be one of the men the Swiss will have to keep an eye on tonight.
Many challenges lie ahead for Turkey, on the football field, in its economy, and in its overseas property market. But for a country that has come so far in all these areas in recent years - its football team have qualified for four of the last six major international tournaments having only ever qualified for one prior to 1996 (the 1954 World Cup) - you can be sure it will be up to the challenge.
