Turkey aims using local currencies in trade with China, Russia, Iran, President Erdoğan says

From Daily Sabah

Turkey is taking steps to allow commerce with China, Russia and Iran to be conducted in local currencies, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday, the government's latest effort to shore up the tumbling lira.

In a speech during an inauguration ceremony in the central city of Kayseri, Erdoğan also said that Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım would bring up the issue with Moscow during a forthcoming trip to Russia.

"If we buy something from them [foreign countries], we will do that in their currency; if they buy something from us, they will do it in our currency."

Erdoğan noted that Turkey will "play its own game" in the economic arena against "all games" played against it.

Erdoğan has called on Turks to cash in their foreign exchange holdings and buy lira and gold to stem the Turkish currency's decline.

Following Erdoğan's call to support the declining Turkish currency against the US dollar, Turkey's stock exchange also decided the same day to convert all of its cash assets into Turkish lira.

All of the cash assets will be kept in lira accounts, Borsa Istanbul said in a statement.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate went up to stand at 3.5430 at 5 p.m. (1400GMT) Friday, compared to 3.4860 at Thursday's close.

Also making remarks at the ceremony in Kayseri, PM Yıldırım said Turkey continues its economic growth despite all recent developments in the world. "It is for sure that Turkish economy remains strong against all attacks and ruses."

The lira has lost a fifth of its value this year, hit by a resurgent dollar and widening concerns on Turkey's economy and political stability in the aftermath of the July 15 failed coup by Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ). The intensity of the clashes with the PKK terror group is at its highest during the 40-year-long armed insurgency, while Turkey also battles with Daesh terrorists in its south in Syria.

The ongoing talks between Turkish political parties regarding a possible referendum on switching to presidential system in spring also adds up to events pressuring Turkish lira.

From: http://www.dailysabah.com/economy/2016/12/04/turkey-aims-using-local-currencies-in-trade-with-china-russia-iran-president-erdogan-says

Turkey's EU Accession bid unwinding?

The Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern probably used the right words when he called Turkey’s EU accession talks a diplomatic fiction. The clamour stoked by that declaration is only indicative of how thick that delusion had become.  It was however obvious that, as mentioned in our July 17 post, besides not belonging to Europe in any reasonably way- whether geographical, historical, cultural, or political- Turkey had also been drifting steadily away  from European values. With the country now on the fast track to an authoritarian metamorphosis disguised as state of emergency, it seems clear that accession is a no-go. Following the events of Incirlik, will the next step be a withdrawal or expulsion from NATO?  

Regardless, now that EU accession is finally increasingly off the table, Turkey will have to set its own path- hopefully refraining from blackmail and extortion as it has attempted to do (not without some success) with the EU. As we have observed, Turkey is the heir to a great culture and civilization. Its future course must be inspired by that cultural legacy; it must identify a plausible geographical context to unfold- the most natural being the Middle East; it must rediscover, but obviously reinterpret its history (given the disastrous epilogue of the Ottoman Empire); it must find its own sources and foundations of political legitimacy and good governance, and possibly ones that it can share with its neighbourhood, which could -and perhaps should- include Israel. 

In fact, if these two important states, plus, perhaps, Iran and Egypt, could cooperate to give birth to a Community of the Middle East that would certainly be seen as a positive development. The Europeans should obviously be at the window, hopefully supportive of Turkey's new course, as good and respectful neighbours.