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n Turkey, when the AKP government planned the demolition of the Gezi Park wall within the Expansion Project and some of the trees started being uprooted, people started a peaceful protest to protect the green environment in Taksim Square.

In a short span of time, this turned into a movement against the Erdogan administration, and the provocateurs did not hesitate to spread terror and vandalism in the country; this spread to other cities and became a nationwide issue.

From May 30 to June 25, the Turkish stock market lost nearly 21 percent in capitalization. Some of it was due to the comments made by the Federal Reserve in the US, in the two weeks leading up to the protests, while most of the losses became exaggerated after the protests.

Most people thought that because of these protests, Turkey would suffer economically and if the protesters cannot oust the PM, maybe the economy taking a hit would; this however is a very shortsighted conclusion for the following
reasons.

First, there have been substantial structural reforms with respect to the economy. Turkey has undergone a profound economic transformation since 2001. It has recorded a remarkable GDP growth rate of almost 6 percent in average during the period of 2002-2011. Thus, per capita income increased to US$10,500 in 2011, from the modest figure of $3,500 recorded in 2002.

Turkey has been extremely careful with its budget for the last decade. Once at 17 percent in 2001, EU-defined general government budget deficit/GDP ratio was 2.6 percent in 2011 and Turkey met the Maastricht criteria of 3 percent while outperforming 18 EU Countries (central government budget deficit/GDP ratio was 1.3 percent in Turkey in 2011 and Turkey outperformed 23 EU countries).

The reason for the stellar performance can be attributed almost directly to the Erdogan administration and their management of the economy.

Privatization has been among the top priorities of the government'€™s agenda. Privatization revenues reached $8 billion in the period of 1986-2003 and $36.2 billion in 2003-2012. The main philosophy of privatization is to confine the role of the state to healthcare, basic education, social security, national defense, and large-scale infrastructure investments. This is in line with Turkey'€™s target of creating a truly competitive market economy driven by the private sector.

 In addition to fiscal policy and privatization, monetary policies of the Turkish Central Bank played a crucial role in securing macroeconomic balances.

Having been one of the major concerns of the Government for more than three decades, inflation has been brought down to single digits by the mid-2000s. CPI inflation was 6.16 percent last year. It is forecast to settle down around 5 percent in 2014. Finally it is noteworthy to state that Turkey has paid off its IMF loans completely.

It is a telling story when there are many factors that have contributed to the success of the economy, not just one sector, industry or a single policy. There is real growth and a solid robust economy that is not in bubble mode, artificially growing through market manipulation. We thus have the makings of a truly resilient market and economy that will gain the confidence of investors even more. The market has already bounced back nicely from its low on June 24.

Certainly, Turkey'€™s economy has not come to this point in one step. Some major steps have been taken in recent years to make Turkey a more advanced democratic country. Many important reforms have been made in areas such as human rights and freedoms, equality before the law and the independence of the judiciary.

Important constitutional precautions were put in place to prevent any repetition of military interventions such as coups and military memorandums that have taken place since the 1960s and which greatly obstructed our democratic development.

With the referendum in 2011, it became easier to start legal proceedings against the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) rulings, civilians can no longer be tried in military courts and citizens will be able to apply to the Constitutional Court for human rights violations. Also, a '€œlaw for the protection of family and the prevention of violence against women'€ represented a major step in terms of Turkey'€™s democratic progress.

These real and meaningful institutional changes to further democracy and protect the rights of citizens have had a profound effect on the psyche and lives of ordinary Turkish citizens.

It is no wonder then that the PM enjoys such a wide margin of support from the public. With the recent events, he managed to navigate Turkey to stability and public order, giving him a chance to rally his base and earn even more popular support. For those who may have thought, or are thinking, that this is a continuation of the Arab Spring, Turkey is a proud democracy that has painfully earned its place amongst the democracies of the world.

These protests were yet another testimony to that status. In theory the idea of a democracy sounds great, but it is precisely because of a real challenge such as the Gezi park protests that will test whether or not governments will cave into their own lust for power or follow the rule of law as established by the people. Turkey has undoubtedly passed the test thus far.