The importance of examining and discovering the paths to achieve economic development is so great that there is no doubt about this issue today. However, there is still a lot of disagreement in presenting paths and solutions. One of the approaches to the issue of economic development is the economic Catch-up approach, which has been proposed by Schumpeterian economists. An approach that has differences from other approaches and tries to provide distinctive solutions. The economic development of Turkey, as a developing country and of course caught in the middle-income trap, has also been the subject of many studies. However, the lack of research that examines the issue of Turkey's economic development from the perspective of the economic Catch-up approach is the main motivation for conducting the present study.
This study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods. In order to judge whether or not the economic Catch-up has been achieved in Turkey, macroeconomic data for the aforementioned period is used, and the library method and systematic study of Turkey's macro-economic policy documents and research conducted are used to extract the differences and contradictions between the current situation and executive policies and the proposed solutions of the Catch-up approach.
Turkey has failed to achieve economic Catch-up over the past 22 years and has been caught in the middle-income trap. The ruling party's approach during its term of government has not been consistent with the main axes of the Catch-up approach.