More than 20 financial critics of Erdogan are going to court over the pound

The Turkish banking regulator has filed a criminal complaint against more than 20 people for their comments on the government’s unorthodox economic policies and the historic sinking of the pound. The accused include former central bank governors, journalists and an economist. According to the lawsuits, they may have attempted to manipulate the exchange rate, according to the Financial Times. The move aims to freeze attempts to criticize Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s policies.

(News) Monday. It became clear from the post that lawsuits have been taken against 26 people and accounts in the same social network because of “their posts on social media and media “against the background of the currency crisis, in which tens of percent of the value of the pound were erased.

Among the accused are Durmush Yilmaz, who headed the central bank between 2006 and 2011. and is now an opposition MP. Rushdou Sarakoglu, another former central bank governor, is also on the list published by the banking supervisor. Recall that Erdogan fired several governors, finance ministers and deputy ministers who did not share or had doubts about his economic policy.

The current claims are based on Article of the Banking Law, which prohibits statements in the media that could discredit or damage a bank’s reputation.

The Turkish government often uses the courts to silence critics. you are. It has already prosecuted journalists and social media users for their statements during previous bouts of financial market instability.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that the weaker pound will boost exports and economic growth and order the central bank to cut interest rates despite official inflation rates above 20%. He argues that high interest rates fuel inflation, contrary to basic economic theory.

Erdogan was forced to impose emergency measures on December 20th as the pound fell to a record low level of 18.4 per dollar, sinking 60% year-over-year. The plan, which includes government guarantees to compensate savers against currency devaluation, helped the pound recover to 11.5 against the dollar.

The sharp decline in the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves A bank earlier last week suggested that state institutions had bought billions of pounds to maintain the currency. Turkey’s net foreign assets fell $ 5.9 billion in the first two days of last week, according to estimates by the Financial Times based on central bank data.

The finance minister Nureddin Nebati said in a televised interview Monday that there were no such interventions on December 20th and that the pound has recovered most of its losses after Turks “compete to sell their dollars” following Erdogan’s promise to protect deposits in

Gouldem Atabay, an economist who writes for the Para Analiz website and part of the central bank’s list, said she had not yet been notified of the complaint. She suspects that the move is related to the concerns she has expressed about the potential risks of the new deposit instrument.

The complaint serves as a threat to other economists, who also draw attention to the government’s political mistakes, “she said. “I will continue to try to inform people about what I see, which is based on mathematics and science.”

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