Turkey’s economy under attack not in crisis: MHP leader
ANKARA
The recent fall in the value of the Turkish Lira is the result of an attack by the United States, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has said.
“I should stress that Turkey is not in an economic crisis. There is no crisis; there is an attack,” Bahçeli said at a press conference on Aug. 15.
Bahçeli vowed his party “will support the government and the state amid this economic difficulty.”
The MHP had entered the June 24 parliamentary elections in an alliance with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and endorsed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presidential elections.
He also threw his support behind Erdoğan’s call for a boycott on U.S. electronic goods.
“We stand with our Turkish lira. We trust our national currency,” he said, stressing that there should be a new economic model “that is more compatible with the Turkish culture and beliefs.
Echoing the AKP’s rhetoric that the recent drop in the lira’s value against the U.S. dollar is the result of “speculations” and “economic plots,” the MHP leader said the attacks came from the U.S.
In a Twitter post, Bahçeli slammed U.S. President Donald Trump for imposing further steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey. He said the U.S. president “has been harming the alliance through harassment and provocation.”
He also criticized the U.S. for making pastor Andrew Brunson’s continued imprisonment “a main dynamic of their foreign policy,” saying Turkish courts are “independent and impartial.”
“If the traitor in Pennsylvania is extradited to our country immediately, then the delivery of the pastor can be on the agenda,” he added, referring to U.S.-based Fethullah Gülen, whom Ankara blames for the 2016 coup attempt and whose extradition has been an issue straining ties between the two NATO allies.
Bahçeli said the “[economic] attacks will be thwarted too.”
“We can simply live on bread, as long as we are free and stand honorably. If we lose today, we will find tomorrow. If we eat less today, we will be full tomorrow. There is no choice but to defend our country,” he added.
