Erdoğan brings up Gezi again as the initial source of economic instability in Turkey
Turkey’s President Erdoğan held the 31st Meeting of Village Headmen at the Presidential Palace in Ankara.
Giving a long speech to the attendants on issues especially in regards to current standing of Turkey’s economy, Erdoğan claimed the initial rise on the value of USD against TL came about during the Gezi protests of 2013.
Praising people in support of his call on use of TL instead of USD in as many transactions as possible, Erdoğan also said: “I’m giving you the good news now: our people will come out of this period not in harm but with profit.”
Erdoğan stated: “… We know that the stagnation in the markets is due to foreign provocative factors. We are faced with an artificial rise of currency exchange rate that is caused by the negative atmosphere. In addition to means of our state, we also called on our people to convert their foreign currencies. And, my citizens have come up front and chose Turkish lira... I believe that determination in this regard will continue. I thank my nation! If a nation believes something and moves for it, there is no force to stop it... Before we were in power, too, we used to see interest rates changing over night. They could not do such thing under our rule. We always blocked their way. We said we are not going to make this nation submit to interest rate lobby. It (interest rates) fell down as low as 4.6%. Then, they stepped up in our way with Gezi. After that, it reached two digit numbers, again... When I say ‘even if I am left alone’, Tweets keep flowing, telling me ‘you are not alone.’ Now, I know that I am not alone. We are going to resist against pressure of foreign currencies and give value to Turkish lira...”
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/erdogan-ondan-sonra-erdogan-diktator-oluyor-138562.html