President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Turks not to panic amid a further fall of the Turkish lira against the US dollar due to mounting tensions between Washington and Ankara.
“Various campaigns are underway against Turkey, pay no attention to them. While they have dollars, we have our people, law and Allah,” Erdogan said, according to the state-run media. He added that “attempts to exert economic pressure on Turkey were futile.”
Erdogan went further describing an economic pressure on his country, including by means of destabilizing its financial system, as futile. Additionally, the Turkish president claimed that Ankara will respond to those who had started an “economic war” against it.
“We will not lose the economic war,” Erdogan vowed.
On August 10, the dollar grew as much as 13.5% thus pushing the lira to a record low of 6.3005. Experts already described this as the Turkish currency’s worst weekly slide since the 2008 financial crisis.
Erdogan’s recent remarks are mimicking Russia’s Prime Minister Dmintry Medvedev, who often makes colourful statements on economic matters. For example on May 23, 2016, he responded to criticizm of the government’s failure to index pensions by saying: “There is no money. But be strong. All the best. Have a good day, and good health”. Then, he turned round and left. This prompted several sarcastic memes.
Erdogan’s recent remarks on the Turkish economic growth risks to trigger a similar situation.
