The Turkish lira fell to a record low against the dollar after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ousted ambassadors from the United States and nine other Western countries. mentioned Reuters.
The position of the Turkish currency was nothing bright anyway, after Turkey’s central bank cut its key interest rate by 200 basis points despite rising inflation. The lira has already fallen nearly 24 percent this year, but bankers attributed the current decline to Erdogan’s announcement on Saturday.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was angered that Osman Kavala, head of the diplomatic missions of the aforementioned ambassadors, namely the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand, had been “delayed” and criticized the Turkish judiciary earlier this week,
Ankara has demanded the immediate release of the man, given that he has been imprisoned for four years so far and nothing has been proven.
International observers and human rights organizations have repeatedly called on the Turkish authorities to release Kavala and Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas, who has been detained since 2016, claiming that they are being held in prison for political reasons.
Erdogan’s political opponents said the order to expel the ambassadors was an attempt to divert attention from Turkey’s economic difficulties, and diplomats expressed hope that the expulsions would continue to be prevented.
