In the face of Turkish President Recep Erdogan's increasingly harsh rhetoric towards The West and slamming the central banks for its "independence" warning that it will "be held accountable" if the decision on interest rates is wrong - which has sent the Lira to record lows - Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc appears to have come out today to try and calm the situation. Fearing that "Turkey could cease to be a governable country," Arinc called for a softening of political language, as he warns "the polarization of the masses, frightens me."
Another US ally appears un-impressed...
- *ERDOGAN SAYS TURKEY "NOT A SATELLITE OF WESTERN UNDERSTANDING"
- *ERDOGAN: THE WEST "CAN'T LOOK AT THE WORLD LIKE WE DO"
Erdogan's statements on the central bank continue to slam the Lira...
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*TURKEY'S ERDOGAN: CENTRAL BANK'S DECISION ON RATES IS WRONG
*ERDOGAN: CENTRAL BANK TO BE `HELD ACCOUNTABLE' FOR DECISIONS
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the central bank “will be held accountable” if it can’t manage foreign-exchange policy, state-run Anadolu news agency reports.
“The strengthening or weakening of dollar is not something for me to evaluate. If the central bank can’t manage this, then it will be held accountable for it,” Anadolu cites Erdogan as saying.
Erdogan criticizes bank for keeping interest rates too high, saying that “it’s not in Turkey’s interest to remain silent” to results of bank’s actions.
And so Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc calls for a softening of political language... or else... (as Bloomberg reports)
Hatred of Turkey’s ruling party could make Turkey ungovernable, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc says in interview on CNN-Turk television.
"We get 50% of the vote. But the other 50% is turning to hate speech. We used to go out into the streets and our supporters loved us. Opponents on the other side respected us. Now I sense looks of hatred. There’s a hardening, a dividing into camps. This won’t prevenut us from getting 50%. But it could make Turkey cease to be a governable country"
"The polarization of the masses frightens me"
Says decision on changing Turkey to a presidential from a parliamentary system should be sent to a public referendum even if ruling AK Party has the votes in parliament to enact it without a referendum.
Turkish Spring anyone?
* * *
One can't help but wonder just how different the decisions of a central bank would be if there was actual accountability for their decisions...
