Borrowing is an element of necessity where countries' own resources are not sufficient, and sometimes it is used as an economic policy tool. The main issue that countries should pay attention to while borrowing is the ratio of borrowing to Gross National Product. When this ratio exceeds a certain level, the country's economy experiences problems in debt management. Both developed and developing countries resort to borrowing for development. However, developing countries need more external borrowing due to insufficient domestic resources. External debts affect countries economically and socially.

The aim of the study is to analyse Turkey's foreign debt policy and its results since its foundation. In this direction, the study firstly analyses the theoretical aspects of government borrowing, then the concept of foreign debt, its types and reasons are mentioned. Finally, the development of foreign debt in Turkey has been analysed separately in the Republican period (1923-1946), the pre-Planned Development period (1946-1960), the Planned Development period (1960-1980), 1980-2000 and from 2000 to the present. As a result, Turkey did not resort to foreign borrowing much, especially in the foundation years. The post-1950 period, on the other hand, has been the period in which foreign borrowing has been resorted to the most. Economic and political situations such as the Oil Crisis and the Cyprus Peace Operation increased the external debt stock. After 1980, with the liberalisation of capital movements, the amount of external debt in the country has increased even more. The increase in external debts caused the country to enter into a crisis in 1994. After the 2001 crisis, the transition to a strong economy programme and the Law No. 4749 on the Regulation of Public Finance and Debt Management provided control in debt management. Debts have become sustainable in Turkey. However, the unfavourable developments in global markets after the 2008 global economic crisis caused Turkey to pay off its old borrowings instead of making new borrowings. After the exchange rate attacks and the Covid-19 crisis in recent years, the amount of private sector debt has decreased and the share of the public sector has increased.  Turkey's external debt indicators still do not give positive signals according to various indicative ratios discussed in this study.