Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is deliberately using the ongoing row with the United States (US) over the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson to cover up his big failure in the economy by accusing Erdoğan of not taking necessary measures to stop the plunge of the Turkish lira despite seeing the crisis coming.
“Everybody knew difficulties in the Turkish economy could lead to the appreciation of the dollar against up to 7 Turkish liras. Newspapers wrote and economists warned about it. Why did Erdoğan not take measures two months ago? It was him who decided to go to snap elections to save him from the worsened economic conditions,” Kılıçdaroğlu told journalists at a meeting in Ankara on Wednesday, according to a report by Hürriyet Daily News.
The crisis with the US over the continued detention of Brunson brought the economic crisis forward, Kılıçdaroğlu said and added that “What he is doing is trying to cover up his failure in the economy by portraying the Brunson affair as a pretext to the currency crisis.”
The lira lost nearly 40 percent of its value against the US dollar in the last few weeks after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the Turkish government for not releasing pastor Brunson. Washington has warned that more sanctions are in the pipeline until Brunson is returned home. Brunson, who is currently under house arrest, is being accused of aiding Gülen movement and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
Kılıçdaroğlu recalled that the debts Turkey has to pay within a year is around $240 billion and that the Turkish economy suffers from the absence of necessary fiscal measures and structural moves.
“Do you think the lira will gain against the dollar if Brunson is released? Would the amount of Turkey’s debts decrease?” Kılıçdaroğlu said, stressing that the Turkish economy needs more serious actions for a sound recovery.
“This government is the most imprudent government ever in Turkish history. They have swept the incoming economic crisis under the rug,” he added. “In fact, what we are truly facing is a political crisis. This political crisis has reflections on the economy and foreign exchange rates. Turkey is regarded as a party state under Erdoğan’s rule, in which all powers have been accumulated in the hands of one man.”
The Brunson affair is the result of the lack of rule of law, and similar crises with other countries can repeat in the future if Turkey does not resolve this fundamental problem, Kılıçdaroğlu said, recalling earlier problems with Germany, France, and Greece over the detention of their nationals.
“They (the Turkish government) released Deniz Yücel, a Turkish-German journalist imprisoned on espionage charges, upon German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s request. French citizens arrested in Turkey were released after French President Emmanuel Macron requested their release from Erdoğan. Now they did the same for two Greek soldiers,” he recalled.
“You can never convince foreign countries anymore when you talk about the rule of law in Turkey. And now, Trump simply wants his own national. On the Brunson case, we observe how Erdoğan and Trump are being obstinate with each other,” the CHP leader stated, adding that “Two acrobats are now trying to dance on the same rope.”
The post CHP’s Kılıçdaroğlu: Turkish President using Brunson crisis to cover up his economic failure appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.
from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/chps-kilicdaroglu-turkish-president-using-brunson-crisis-to-cover-up-his-economic-failure/
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder