Turkey closed topic with IMF: AKP deputy chair

ANKARA

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy chair Numan Kurtulmuş has criticized a meeting between the officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Turkish opposition parties, while adding that the Turkish government has “closed the topic with the IMF.”

“Turkey will not be dependent on the IMF program. Nobody should have secret talks with the IMF. We closed the subject with the IMF,” Kurtulmuş told reporters on Sept. 25.

He stated that the IMF is not an organization that only advises on economic issues, but it’s an important political organization on global finance.

He claimed that some opposition groups in Turkey are “supported by global powers just because they are uncomfortable with the country’s power.”

The IMF may negotiate with government agencies in the direction indicated by the government, “but the problem is this secret meeting with the opposition parties,” he said.

“Was it so difficult to inform [the government] about the meeting?” Kurtulmuş said. He also recalled that the opposition had suggested in December last year that the government was in contact with the IMF.

Last week, top IMF officials met with representatives of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and İYİ (Good) Party as part of its Article 4 consultation, an annual economic assessment of each of the fund’s member countries.

In reply to government criticism for the meeting, CHP’s deputy chair and spokesperson Faik Öztrak on Sept. 24 said, “We did not have a secret conversation. If Mr. Raci [Kaya, the fund’s executive director appointed by the Turkish government] is not aware [of the meeting], it’s his problem.”

The opposition parties are contacts of the IMF as much as the government is, according to the IMF’s Article 4, he said. The invitation was submitted by the fund and IMF officials also meet with businesspeople, academics, and opposition groups, he said.