Turkish lira plunges as Erdoğan claims mandate to continue divisive rule
theguardian.comThe Turkish lira has hit a record low after the election win of the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a renewed sign of the economic troubles his country is expected to face in the third decade of his rule.
The lira fell against the dollar as Erdoğan pronounced victory. On Monday morning, the US investment bank Morgan Stanley predicted the Turkish currency would drop further this year, reaching 26 or even 28 to the dollar more quickly than previously anticipated.
Addressing his supporters from the balcony of the presidential palace in Ankara on Sunday evening, Erdoğan struck a hawkish tone after his victory, taking swipes at his political opponents and committing to continue his unorthodox economic policies before reciting a nationalist poem.
The Turkish leader was triumphant after a win over his rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, fending off an unprecedented second-round election challenge to beat the head of the opposition with 52.16% of the vote to Kılıçdaroğlu’s 47.84%.
“This result will tempt Erdoğan to say he can stay the course,” said Soner Cagaptay, a biographer of the Turkish leader and an analyst at the US thinktank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Cagaptay pointed to Erdoğan’s comfortable 4%-winning margin, the result of a divisive election campaign during which both sides deployed misinformation and the incumbent labelled his opponents supporters of terrorism, securing a mandate to continue the same rogue foreign policy decisions and unconventional economic policies of recent years.
Can Semercioğlu of the factchecking organisation Teyit said: “There was a huge amount of disinformation deployed before the elections. It seems we will keep seeing this disinformation across television and social media.”
Erdoğan’s
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