Khursheed Alika, an economic researcher and one of the founders of the Association of Kurdish Economists in Syria, explained that the corruption left by the Erdogan government and the ongoing repression are the main reasons for the deterioration of the Turkish economy. The researcher stressed that non-interference in monetary policies and an end to repression will solve Turkey’s economic problems.
The economic researcher’s statement came in an interview with our agency, commenting on the successive decline of the Turkish lira in recent months against hard currencies, which cast a shadow over the increasingly difficult economic reality in Turkey.
Erdogan’s Lethal Economic Legacy
And economic researcher Khursheed Alika believes that “the Turkish currency will continue to decline unless the interest rate is raised in line with inflation rates and the markets calm down, and unless the volume of control over markets and prices is increased. Therefore, the central bank’s failure to raise the interest rate and the policy followed by Turkey to launch a military operation against the Kurds in north and northeastern Syria put pressure on the Turkish lira, and the rise in energy, goods and services prices as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war casts a shadow over the continuous decline of the Turkish lira in light of the useless policy of palliatives pursued by the Turkish government.
Alika believes that “the continuous Turkish threats against the Kurds in the north and northeast of Syria cast a direct shadow on the decline of the Turkish lira because Turkey is one of the emerging countries and is affected by the setbacks resulting from the failed internal and external policies pursued by the Erdogan government.”
On the efforts made by the Turkish President Erdogan, by visiting the Gulf states, receiving the Israeli president, and mitigating the intensity of anti-Western statements and neighboring countries, to escape the economic crisis that may be the reason for his ouster in the upcoming presidential elections, Alika says that “Erdogan’s policy relies on painkillers by reducing the Central Bank FX reserves to support the Turkish lira and following the policy rampant credit growth, but all this means that it is narcotic needles for the economy that may ease the crisis for several months, but then the Turkish lira returns to decline again due to the failure to address the root of the problem and political interventions from Erdogan. Erdogan vetoed the central bank’s monetary policy choices and changed the central bank governor several times within a short period, which made the central bank lose its independence.”
Why Erdogan Will Never Win Another Election?
The economist asserts that “Erdogan is in the presidential election stage and is trying by various means to achieve stability in the Turkish lira against a basket of foreign currencies in order to succeed again in the elections, but the corruption left by his government and his party during the past years cannot be fixed between day and night, especially after the ongoing inflation. As a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war and Erdogan’s internal policy, which has been manifested, especially since the 2016 coup, with the exile and arrest of everyone who opposes him and the suppression of freedoms, especially against the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and his failed foreign policy in Libya, Armenia, Greece, Syria, Sudan and Somalia, and his hostility to Europeans by politicizing the file of Syrian refugees, his constant demand for Europe to pay compensation for harboring millions of Syrians, and his repeated refusal at the beginning for Finland and Sweden to join NATO, Erdogan is very unlikely to win the next election with external support.
Regarding possible solutions to address the deterioration of the lira and the Turkish economy, Khurshid Alica says, “First, to raise the interest rate to reduce the rate of inflation in the economy, and not to interfere in the monetary policy of the Central Bank and give it more independence, and to end the policy of repression against the opposition and give more political freedom and democracy to the political parties In an atmosphere of trust, the door of political dialogue will be opened in all transparency, which opens the way for foreign direct investment and domestic investment, which will turn the steering wheel of the economy to stability.
Khurshid Alika, an economic researcher and one of the founders of the Association of Kurdish Economists in Syria, confirms that “the declines in the lira affected the quality of life of citizens in Turkey in general, and negatively and severely affected the standard of living of the poor and middle classes, so the suffering of poverty became aggravated and many Turks were looking for job opportunities in Europe and other countries. in order to secure a decent life for them.
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