Abstract:

This study focuses on historical development of economic geography in Turkey. In the concept of the study development and institutionalization of economic geography in Turkey is evaluated and examined by certain time periods starting from the last years of Ottoman Empire to the recent years of Republic period. Drawing attention to the heteronomous characteristic of the discipline, it defends as a sue generis kind of, Turkey’s social, cultural, economic and political context must be considered as an external factor in evaluation and examination of human geography and economic geography specifically. Dealing with history of the discipline in line with this proposition, the study examines pre-republic term and first half-century of republic by departing from existing literature while it examines the last half-century of the discipline by concentrating on PhD dissertations. Conclusions such as the regional approach still stands dominant paradigm and economic geography in Turkey is underdeveloped compared to Anglo-American economic geography in terms of studied objects, theoretical framework and methodological preferences are among main findings of the study. Despite existing renewal efforts especially after the millennium, it seems the future of the discipline depends to the degree of how much it gets afar from its heteronomous characteristic and become more autonomous.

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