Erdoğan blasts investors amid tumbling Turkish Lira

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hit out at international investors on April 12, saying “no one could bring Turkey to heel using exchange rates,” casting the recent sharp drop in the value of the Turkish Lira as a conspiracy by outside powers. 

“Don’t worry, Turkey is continuing on its path with determined steps. Nobody can bring us to heel using exchange rates,” Erdoğan said in a speech in Ankara.

“The rise in exchange rates has no reasonable, logical or regular explanation,” he added.

His comments came as the lira took a breather after plumbing record lows for five straight trading days. 

The lira, which has been highly sensitive to developments in neighboring Syria, recovered slightly to trade at 4.1010 per dollar after hitting a record low of 4.1920 on April 11, with investors’ anxiety over a threatened clash between Western powers and Russia in Syria easing.

The lira is down 2 percent so far this week, also hit by concern about high inflation and the country’s current account deficit.

The lira was the second worst performing emergency currency over the last month after Russian ruble with a nearly 7 percent loss in its value.