The effect of the fourth industrial revolution on sustainable development: An evaluation on Turkey

The environment and its elements have played an important role in industrialisation processes as a factor of production and have been used to meet the needs of the day. However, nowadays, it has started to be taken into consideration in development policies due to the fact that the environment is a scarce resource and environmental conditions affect the quality of life of people. Thus, sustainable development, which has come to the agenda, refers to the realisation of production activities by taking into account the needs of future generations and protecting natural resources while meeting today's needs. Sustainable development, which has an understanding that can transform the paradigm of the individual maximising his/her interests, is presented with the slogan "leaving no one behind-no one left behind". The aim of this study is to explain the interaction channels of sustainable development with the technologies realised with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) in a theoretical framework and to perform a situation analysis for Türkiye. In the first part of the thesis, the concept of development is explained in detail and its conceptual evolution in the historical process is given. In the second part, information about the industrial revolutions and their results is given. In the last chapter, Türkiye's positioning in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is analysed by comparing the indicators of Türkiye and selected countries to evaluate Industry 4.0. Türkiye's global position within the scope of Industry 4.0 and its sustainable development potential are evaluated.