Development Co-operation Profiles

Türkiye

Introduction

Türkiye formally launched its first international assistance programme in 1985, focused on institutional capacity building in sub-Saharan Africa. In terms of volume, Türkiye was among the top 10 bilateral providers of development co-operation that report to the Creditor Reporting System in 2023 (preliminary data), and development co-operation remains an integral part of its foreign policy. Türkiye’s development assistance has decreased slightly over the past three years. Türkiye’s total official development assistance (ODA) (USD 6.7 billion, preliminary data) decreased in 2023, representing 0.6% of gross national income (GNI).1

Find the methodological notes behind the profile here.

Policy

Türkiye’s vision for development co-operation is primarily based on tailoring its expertise and experience to its partner countries’ specific context and needs while also assisting fragile populations affected by conflict, emergencies and disasters. Türkiye carries out development co-operation and humanitarian aid (there are a large number of refugees from the Syrian Arab Republic in Türkiye) activities in various sectors and geographies. Türkiye’s development aid covers health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, sustainable energy, water resource management, humanitarian aid and many other sectors. Türkiye focuses its development co-operation on promoting food security and nutrition; addressing unemployment; combating inequality; and advancing a development agenda conscious of the underlying role of peace, the rule of law and governance in achieving development goals.

Established in 1992, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) finances infrastructure projects for irrigation, sanitation and transport projects, schools and hospitals and engages in triangular co-operation projects, including with the private sector. Türkiye conducts development co-operation activities, especially in geographies such as Africa, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia. Türkiye aims to support countries’ social, economic and environmental development by implementing various projects in these geographies. In 2011, Türkiye hosted the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, culminating in the Istanbul Programme of Action. Since 2018, Türkiye has been hosting the United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries, providing funding and premises for the new institution in Gebze.

ODA allocation overview

Türkiye provided USD 6.7 billion (preliminary data) of ODA in 2023 (USD 5.9 billion in constant terms), representing 0.6% of GNI. This was a decrease of 16.9% in real terms in volume and a decrease in the share of GNI from 2022. Despite increasing consistently in the past decade, the volume of Türkiye’s development assistance has decreased slightly over the past three years. Türkiye is in line with its international commitments of a 0.7% ODA/GNI ratio by 2030. Total ODA on a grant-equivalent basis has the same value as net ODA under the cash-flow methodology used in the past, as Türkiye provides only grants.2

 

Note: Data on ODA volumes (figure above) are in constant 2022 prices. Data for 2023 are preliminary. See the methodological notes for further details.

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Performance against commitments and DAC recommendations

Description	Target	2021	2022	2023, preliminary
ODA as a share of GNI (%)		0.96	0.79	0.60
Total ODA to least developed countries as a share of GNI (%)	0.15-0.20	0.02	0.01
Grant element of total ODA (%)	>86	100	100

Note: This table only includes information about ODA data-related DAC recommendations. ODA: official development assistance; GNI: gross national income; DAC: Development Assistance Committee.

Türkiye provided a majority of its ODA bilaterally in 2022. Gross bilateral ODA was 98% of total ODA disbursements Türkiye allocated 2% of total ODA as core contributions to multilateral organisations.

 

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ODA for Ukraine

In 2023, Türkiye provided USD 0.7 million of net bilateral ODA to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s war of aggression, an 86.9% decrease from 2022 in real terms.

 

Note: The amount reported in 2023 is an estimate, based on preliminary figures reported to the OECD and published in April 2024.

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ODA to and through the multilateral system

In 2022, Türkiye provided USD 143.7 million of gross ODA to the multilateral system, an increase of 60.1% in real terms from 2021. Of this, USD 142.4 million was core multilateral ODA, while USD 1.3 million were non-core contributions earmarked for a specific country, region, theme or purpose.

 

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Eighty-six per cent of Türkiye’s total contributions to multilateral organisations in 2022 were allocated to UN entities and regional development banks.

 

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The UN system received 49.7% of Türkiye’s multilateral contributions, almost entirely through core contributions. Out of a total volume of USD 71.4 million to the UN system, the top three UN recipients of Türkiye’s support were the UN Secretariat (USD 24.3 million), UNDPO-UN Peacekeeping operations (USD 14.2 million) and UNRWA (USD 10 million).

 

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See the section on Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system. Learn more about multilateral development finance.

Bilateral ODA

In 2022, Türkiye’s bilateral spending declined compared to the previous year. It provided USD 7 billion of gross bilateral ODA (which includes earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations). This represented a decrease of 12.8% in real terms from 2021.

In 2022, country programmable aid was 5.6% of Türkiye’s gross bilateral ODA, compared to a non-DAC country average of 47%.

 

Note: NGO: non-governmental organisation.

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In 2022, Türkiye channelled its bilateral ODA mainly through the public sector

 

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Geographic, sectoral and thematic focus of ODA

In 2022, Türkiye’s bilateral ODA was mostly focused on the Middle East. USD 5.2 billion was allocated to countries and territories in this region, accounting for 74.6% of gross bilateral ODA. USD 105 million was provided to ODA-eligible countries in Europe and USD 98.7 million to Asia (beyond Middle East), representing respectively 1.5% and 1.4% of Türkiye’s bilateral allocations. USD 1.5 billion was unallocated by region, representing 21.2% of Türkiye’s gross bilateral ODA. Türkiye’s expenditure for processing and hosting refugees in donor countries totalled USD 1.2 billion in 2022.

Bilateral ODA by recipient country

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In 2022, 68.6% of gross bilateral ODA went to Türkiye’s top 10 recipients. Its top 10 recipients are primarily in the Middle East and Central Asia. Syria was by far the main recipient of Türkiye’s bilateral ODA. The share of gross bilateral ODA not allocated by country was 30.1%.

 

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In 2022, Türkiye allocated the highest share of gross bilateral ODA (66.8%) to other low-income countries (non-LDCs) in 2022. USD 84.4 million (1.2%) was allocated to upper middle-income countries and USD 71.2 million (1%) to lower middle-income countries, noting that 30.1% was unallocated by income group. In 2022, Türkiye allocated USD 63.7 million to LDCs, which compares to 0.01% of its GNI.

 

Note: LDC: least developed country; LIC: low-income country; LMIC: lower middle-income country; UMIC: upper middle-income country; MADCTs: more advanced developing countries and territories.

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Fragile contexts

Support to fragile contexts reached USD 4.8 billion in 2022, representing 68.2% of Türkiye’s gross bilateral ODA. A share of 97.3% of this ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance. Learn more about support to fragile contexts on the States of Fragility platform.

 

Note: HDP: humanitarian-development-peace. The chart represents only gross bilateral official development assistance that is allocated by country.

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Sectors

In 2022, the largest share of Türkiye’s bilateral ODA was provided in the form of humanitarian assistance. Financing in this area amounted to USD 5.3 billion and accounted for 76% of bilateral ODA commitments. Social infrastructure and services were allocated USD 428.2 million (6.1%), mostly focusing on education (USD 226.8 million). Türkiye committed USD 45.1 million for health and population in 2022, accounting for 0.6% of gross bilateral ODA.

 

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ODA for COVID-19 and health

In 2022, Türkiye disbursed USD 27.1 million in ODA for the COVID-19 response, up from USD 2.1 million in 2021.

Total official support for sustainable development

Total official support for sustainable development is an international statistical standard that monitors all official and officially supported resources for financing the SDGs in developing countries, as well as for addressing global challenges. It provides a broader measure of development finance with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of all external support that developing countries receive. In 2022, activities reported by Türkiye as TOSSD totalled USD 7.6 billion, down from USD 7.8 billion in 2021, and Türkiye’s TOSSD activities in support of sustainable development mostly targeted SDG 4 Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, and SDG 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development. Activity-level data on TOSSD by recipient are available at: https://tossd.online.

Institutional set-up

TİKA is a public entity with a dedicated budget under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In addition to implementing Turkish bilateral projects and programmes, TİKA plays a key co-ordination role for all Turkish stakeholders involved in development co-operation, including line ministries, public institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the private sector. In its bilateral co-operation, TİKA works in more than 150 countries, providing technical assistance for institutional capacity building across the public sector, as well as scholarships for study in Türkiye.

TİKA was initially established under Statutory Decree Law 480 as an international technical assistance agency under the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1999, it was moved under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office. In 2001, the organisation’s body of rules was enforced with the publication of Law No. 4668 on the “Organization and Tasks of the Turkish Cooperation and Development Administration Directorate”. A further Statutory Decree on the Organization and Duties of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency was adopted in 2011 to enable a restructuring of the agency for more flexible and responsive decision making. In July 2018, TİKA was moved under the authority of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism but retained its status as a public legal entity with a dedicated budget. Today TİKA implements projects in more than 150 countries, with 63 programme co-ordination offices in 61 countries. In addition to its own activities, TİKA also co-ordinates projects in collaboration with other ministries, NGOs and the private sector. Other public institutions, NGOs and the private sector also implement projects and programmes for Türkiye’s development co-operation.

 

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Additional resources

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye: www.mfa.gov.tr/default.en.mfa.

Türkiye’s development co-operation activities: www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye_s-development-cooperation.en.mfa.

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA): www.tika.gov.tr/en.

TİKA Annual Report 2023 (Turkish only): tika.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/TIKA-IFR-202319-Mart-2024-Web.pdf.

Member of the OECD since 1961. Not a member of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). TİKA attended the 2023 DAC HLM meeting.

Reporting to the OECD since 1990 and reporting activity-level data since 2019 on 2018 activities.

Türkiye is an Adherent to the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Environmental Assessment of Development Assistance Projects and Programmes, the OECD Recommendation of the Council for Development Co-operation Actors on Managing the Risk of Corruption, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas, the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development, the OECD Declaration on Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Development Co-operation, and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable aid, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

Notes

← 1.  DAC members adopted the grant-equivalent methodology starting from their reporting of 2018 data as a more accurate way to count the donor effort in development loans. See the methodological notes for further details.

← 2.  Non-grants include sovereign loans, multilateral loans, equity investment and loans to the private sector.