'The main purpose of this paper is to examine the international competitiveness of the Turkish economy and the structure of specialisation in foreign trade in comparison with the five EU candidate countries Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Rumania, Poland and the EU/15. This research work attempts to find out Turkey's ability to overcome difficulties and challenges that might arise from the hard competition with the enlarged EU, mainly in the field of foreign trade.' (author's abstract)Ziel der Untersuchung ist es, die internationale Wettbewerbsfaehigkeit der tuerkischen Wirtschaft und die Aussenhandelsstruktur des Landes im Vergleich zu den fuenf EU-Beitrittskandidaten Bulgarien, Tschechische Republik, Ungarn, Rumaenien und Polen sow...