Ali Babacan accuses Erdogan of destroying Turkish economy following collapse of lira

Amira Sherif

Ali Babacan, head of Turkey’s opposition Democratic and Progress Party (DEVA), accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of destroying the country’s economy and risking the fate of the people in light of the continuous suppression of opposition voices.

This came after the Turkish lira fell again against the dollar and foreign currencies following a temporary recovery.

Turkey has only been able to sell parts of its sovereign institutions at a time when it is suffering from political, economic, financial and monetary crises, the pillar of which is the lira.

Turkey suffers from a high level of inflation and a huge foreign debt, given the weakening of the lira.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, one of the most prominent names in Turkish economics, said during his speech at the party conference in Yalova that Turkey is a large country and not a field for Erdogan’s experiments. He stated that Erdogan has followed an illogical economic theory that has caused the country to drown within two years.

“This country is not your experimental laboratory,” Babacan said, addressing Erdogan. “Citizens of this country are not guinea pigs. You applied an irrational theory in economics, and it destroyed the country in two years.”

Babacan stressed that foreign policy is not practiced through disputes, insults and intransigence, but that the country’s interests are protected through diplomacy.

“The current authority continues disputes and then says that diplomacy is able to solve all problems and that there is no problem that cannot be solved by diplomacy. What is that? How can they turn so fast? Things are not so easy. They make big mistakes and inflict bodily harm on the country, and then retreat from that path and start talking about starting a new reform phase when needed and forced… Not so easy, there is a price for everything,” he said.

Babacan added that Turkey is currently witnessing a repressive climate similar to the dark period that Turkey witnessed due to the military tutelage during the coup of February 28, 1997, indicating that the current government imprisoned all those who opposed it and criticized its policies, according to the Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Babacan stated that Turkey has become a state of prisoners of conscience, pointing out that the government is throwing journalists whom it does not like their news, students whose tweets annoy them and citizens who disagree with them inside prison.

Babacan added that on February 28, 1997, the military guardianship exercised injustice against all who believed in reform. However, in the era of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey has witnessed the removal of the law through emergency decrees and sentencing the families of detainees to starvation.

“Yes, the military guardianship in the 1990s exerted pressure on the media, but the opposition press continued its publications at that time,” he said.

Babacan emphasized that the founding period of the AKP did not witness pressures on the media, such as what is currently being witnessed in Turkey during Erdogan’s era, adding that the press at that time was practicing its work easily. He recalled that dozens of journalists were arrested during his reign simply because they opposed or disagreed with him.