Turkey’s economy once enjoyed China-like growth rates, with gross domestic product expanding at 8.8 percent as recently as 2011, and 9.2 percent the year before that.

But things have changed.

Turkey’s GDP has tumbled from the highs of recent years to what experts call a disappointing 2.9 percent in 2014—which is higher than typical growth in developed nations like the United States, but weak for an emerging country. (Tweet This)

The once-burgeoning market needs a boost in political confidence in order to grow, experts say, by taking proposed economic reforms more seriously and restoring a system of checks and balances into the government. But recent political developments have caused some to doubt whether those things will happen.

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Image via Greg under Flickr CC.