This paper attempts to provide a general framework to understand the broad features of Turkish political economy by focusing on key crises and their political and economic consequences. Attention is drawn to the transformative impact of the major crises in terms of both shifts in the broad thrust of economic policies and the nature of Turkish private sector development. The paper concludes by underlining the importance of democratic consolidation as a means of overcoming the cyclical nature of economic growth experienced so far, with its far-reaching and costly political and human consequences.