The stable economic growth that Turkey has experienced since 2001 has come to an end. The growth began after the financial crisis in 2001, when an International Monetary Fund program was implemented to address that crisis. Then, in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power, kicking off a period of long-term growth. From 2003-2008, Turkey registered an annual growth of 5.9%. From 2009-2017, the rate of growth was 4.9% a year.

This period of economic growth created more disposable income and jobs. It also led to an increase in taxes and therefore public services, giving the AKP a steady base of voters. As a result of this economic performance, the AKP was able to build the political Islam regime it had aspired to.

The most important feature of the “good life” in Turkey was the country's access to an unprecedented amount of foreign resources. A stable internal environment combined with easily accessible global liquidity provided Turkey with abundant foreign resources. The expansionist monetary policies of the United States and the EU to manage the global financial crisis enabled countries like Turkey to obtain foreign resources and endowed Turkey with a rate of about 5% stable growth.

But after 2014, there were signs that the good life may be coming to an end. External expansionist policies were nearing an end and interest rates were set to increase. Turkey was able to prolong its period of growth until the end of 2017, but it couldn't fend off the 2018 crisis. According to the Central Bank of Turkey’s balance of payments figures, in the first nine months of 2018 there were no resources available from abroad, while $4.2 billion of foreign resources departed Turkey.