Regional Instability in Terms of Economy: Border Trade
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Mustafa Mete,Filiz Sanal Çevik,Mehmet Vahit Eren Int.J.Eco. Res., 2014, ja, v5i4, 01 - 11 ISSN: 2229-6158 REGIONAL INSTABILITY IN TERMS OF ECONOMY: BORDER TRADE AND HABUR BORDER GATE Mustafa Mete* ,University of Gaziantep: [email protected] Filiz Sanal Çevik,University of Kocaeli : [email protected] Mehmet Vahit Eren ,University of Şırnak : [email protected] * Correspondent author: Güneykent Mahallesi, 102239 No’lu Sokak, No:23 Kat:5, Daire:11, Şahinbey - Gaziantep, Turkey . E-mail: [email protected] Abstract One of the basic problems of Turkey and the World is regional instability. Inter-regional instability is a problem that affects the developed or developing countries without making any discrimination between them. With the objective to solve the underdevelopment problem of Eastern and Southeastern Regions of Turkey, the border trade practices have been started to be implemented. Border trade is defined as a special form of international trade mutually implemented by the countries that border the other countries in order to cover the needs of that region. Providing the opportunity to supply goods cheaply and easily and contributing to the environment of peace, tranquility and trust, providing employment and its positive effect on annihilating the regional instability are some significant contributions of this form of trade to macro economy. Our trading volume which merchandized through Habur border gate has gathered speed in recent years and this case has increased the importance of Habur border gate. As datum about border trade aren’t recorded adequately, this article using historical and comparative approach is important. Because it put forwards the effect and efficiency of Habur border gate. Keywords: Regional Instability, Border Trade, Habur Border Gate Introduction completed its foundation in 1976 and it has been carrying out its activities with Habur Inter-regional instability reveals itself as developmental differences between countries Customs Head directorate since 1981. The or among various regions of a specific reason for the construction Habur Border country. As this instability may have Gate, the sole and biggest gate opening to economic aspect, it may also have social, Iraq, is the oil import that we rely on outside geographical, socio-culture aspects as well. financial sources. Some kind of problems in the fields such as The border trade in Southeastern Anatolia unemployment, poverty, health and Region started in 1985 with the opening of education emerge in the countries or regions Gaziantep- Öncüpınar and Karkamış border that are underdeveloped regionally. In order gates to Syria. That Turkey has historical, to sort out these problems especially religious and cultural similarities with Iraq, economic ones, there is a suggested practice Iran and Syria -Turkey’s longest common as the solution: Border Trade. Border trade border neighbors- makes the foreign trade or regional preferential trade is developed as easier. While Turkey imports oil and natural a special form of foreign trade. The purpose gas from these countries, it exports in this form of trade is to supply the goods manufactured agricultural products and cheaply and easily and to create mutual industrial products. peace, tranquility and trust by increasing the In the study, after the term of regional trade between neighbor countries. Achieving instability is mentioned in section I, border the targeted goal, there will be an increase in trade will be explained in section II, as the the employment and this will result in a role of border trade in economic decrease in interregional development development will be given in section III and differences and this will provide significant the commercial relationship between Turkey contribution to national economy. and Iraq and commercial data from Habur The border trade in the province of Şırnak Border Gate will be examined in section IV. started in 1973 with Directorate of Custom Administration, Directorate of Customs IJER |JULY - AUGUST 2014 1 Available [email protected] Mustafa Mete,Filiz Sanal Çevik,Mehmet Vahit Eren Int.J.Eco. Res., 2014, ja, v5i4, 01 - 11 ISSN: 2229-6158 1.Regional Instability: An Economic Point around development points (Development of View Poles) and therefore the emergence of As there can be some developmental interregional instability is not only an differences between various countries; there indispensable necessity, but it is also a may also be some kind of differences in condition of economic development. (Dinler, ). terms of economic, geographic, social and 2001 cultural aspects between various regions of a The existence of interregional development country. In other words, these differences difference is true for all countries. Economic could be defined as differences in inter- development starting with Industrial regional income inequalities or interregional Revolution has had its effect on some production, consumption and division countries and some parts of these countries. differences (Gündüz, 2006). As interregional Thus, all regions of a country have not instabilities show decrease in developed developed at the same level. In other words, countries, they show increase in developing as economic activities intensify in regions countries. (Tutar and Demiral, 2007). that have suitable conditions for them, other regions have fallen behind. However, When regional instability is defined as all intensity of interregional difference in sorts of inequalities observed in various developing countries is more than in regions of a country, it could be stated that eloped countries (Özel, 2009). regional instability can be observed more or dev less but always in every country nowadays. Both experiences in developed and Regional instability could be explained developing countries indicate that almost all narrowly as inequality of economic and countries have faced with the problem of social opportunity. As inequality of regional instability. Meanwhile, regional economic opportunity is defined as people in instability’s taking place in economic and different regions do not have equal political agenda in most countries has conditions in the issues like employment and happened especially after the period of wage, social opportunity inequality is World War II (Dinler, 2001). As it is seen, defined as the people in different regions do the problem of regional instability is not just not benefit equally from educational and today’s problem but a problem that has come health services and cultural activities. from the past. This ongoing problem brings (Kulaksız, 2008). about various problems with it and it creates threatening situation without doubt. No matter which economic system is accepted, today the main object in every It could be said that the reality of regional country is to maximize the welfare of those instability causes significant social problems living in that country and to allocate this in regard to economy. That is to say regional welfare fairly among the individuals and instability is a factor that reduces not only various regions (Aydın, 2008). In order to economic stagnation but the rate of growth; reach this aim, it is necessary to determine it causes productive sources to flow to center the reasons that lead to inter-regional within the dependence of periphery on differences in welfare. center, impoverishment of the periphery and a change in social structure. On the other Some of the main reasons causing hand, after the developed regions, the center interregional development differences could of attraction for production factors and be stated as follows: development process backward regions, the main existence of does not start simultaneously in every which is labor force and capital, have lost country, economic development does not their functions and got into begin at the same time in all parts of the “underdevelopment circles” , some kind of country and developments emerged in problems have emerged in the fields like certain centers intensify just in these centers. The increase in economic and social mobility IJER |JULY - AUGUST 2014 2 Available [email protected] Mustafa Mete,Filiz Sanal Çevik,Mehmet Vahit Eren Int.J.Eco. Res., 2014, ja, v5i4, 01 - 11 ISSN: 2229-6158 employment, education, housing, health, 2.1.Border Trade Term water, energy, infrastructure. (Özel, 2009). The special type of foreign trade, border Regional instabilities could be studied in trade is defined as a special form of trade three different groups according to their including borderlines of two countries and qualities in both developed and that is carried out in the scope of special underdeveloped countries. (Kulaksız, 2008). contracts between two neighboring countries First one is natural or geographical and it is developed in order to fulfill regional instabilities. These kinds of instabilities development of the countries that have land result from the allocation of natural and sea borders (Keskin, 2010). resources in favor of the region in some regions and to the detriment of the region in Border trade principally includes satisfying some others. the regional needs of the public between the two sides of border regions. The expected Second one is economic and functional purposes of this form of trade could be instabilities. In this sense, same production summarized as to contribute to the increase factors in the countries experiencing of the mutual trust environment in border instabilities gain different returns in different regions and to acquire easily the