Erdogan's fight with the lira: Authority shows Twitter users - even an ex-central bank chief

Created: 12/28/2021, 3:15 PM

From: Astrid Theil

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is plunging his country into an economic crisis with his actions.

© Francisco Seco / picture alliance / dpa / AP

The sharp decline in the value of the Turkish currency lira is putting President Erdogan under enormous pressure.

Critical tweets about the Lira-Kirse are now even prosecuted.

Istanbul - The Turkish currency lira has lost massively in value in the past few weeks. For some observers and experts in Turkey cause for criticism on Twitter - now several victims face high fines. The Turkish regulatory and supervisory authority for banks has filed criminal charges against 26 people. The reason: The people reported tried to "manipulate" the currency rates with their tweets.

The agency also published a list with the names of those affected.

Among them is a former head of the central bank and the journalist Erk Acarer, who lives in exile in Germany.

In recent weeks, criticism of the way the Turkish government has dealt with the drop in the value of the lira has become louder.

The rate of the Turkish currency collapsed several times in the past few weeks, among other things as a result of key interest rate cuts.

The lira had temporarily lost more than 55 percent of its value compared to the euro since the beginning of the year.

Turkey: Erdogan's stabilization package is taking effect - but economists warn

The lira has appreciated again since the day the government announced a stabilization package and has remained relatively stable since then. Opposition politicians and some economists, however, emphasized that the lira was only stabilized thanks to the non-public sale of dollar reserves in the billions by the central bank. Consumer prices are rising at an annual rate of over 20 percent, and some economists are even anticipating an even more dramatic rate of inflation in the coming months. Since the beginning of November alone, the lira has lost a third of its value.

The Turkish lira collapsed under an economic experiment that Erdogan was actually using to boost its popularity ahead of the elections in mid-2023.

His plan: He put pressure on the National Bank to cut interest rates.

Erdogan was convinced that this would remedy the Turkish inflation problem - the opposite was the case, as predicted by almost all economists.

Growing resentment in Turkey: Erdogan in "political survival mode"

When Erdogan came to power in Turkey in 2002, he made the problems of the needy a priority.

However, he then opened the country to foreign investors.

Economists and diplomats were surprised by the president's dramatic change of course in recent years.

In view of the devastating polls, the president is in "political survival mode," says a senior Western diplomat.

"Only his most loyal followers remain for him."