After the victory of President Erdoğan, the Turkish Lira falls sharply

2023-05-29 15:15:09, Ekonomi CNA

American President Joe Biden has congratulated his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his victory in Sunday's runoff in Turkey. Mr. Erdo?an secured another five-year term by winning against the candidate of the united opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. President Erdogan must deal with rising inflation that has fueled a cost-of-living crisis. His opponent had sought to reverse Mr Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian tendencies, promising a return to democratic norms. But in the end, voters chose the man they see as a strong leader.

After the results gave him 52% of the vote in Sunday's runoff, compared to 48% for his rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Mr Erdogan gave two acceptance speeches, one in Istanbul and one in Ankara.

"No one lost today. All 85 million Turks won. As a requirement of the responsibility given to us by our nation, we are not offended, angry or angry with anyone. Now is the time to put aside all the debates and conflicts of the election campaign and unite around our national goals and dreams," said the Turkish president, Erdogan.

After Mr. Erdogan's victory was confirmed, the Turkish lira hit a record low against the US dollar on Monday, but the Turkish stock market showed rising numbers. The Turkish lira has fallen about 7% since the start of the year and has lost more than 90% of its value over the past decade.

The residents of Istanbul, however, expressed optimism.

"I think the exchange rate will increase further from this moment. I can't say an exact number, but I think it will be much higher than the current figure by the end of the year," says Istanbul resident Omer Yildiz.

"Because everyone was so focused on the election, prices went up a lot, the market was struggling. But thanks to God, the result happened as we wanted, we expect the increase in prices to slow down now", says Kenan Batur, another resident of Istanbul.

President Erdogan is now secure in power until 2028, securing another five years as leader of a country at the crossroads of Europe and Asia that plays a key role in NATO. Now he has to deal with rising inflation that has fueled a cost-of-living crisis and continued reconstruction in an area hit by an earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people.

Opposition candidate Kilicdaroglu had vowed to return Turkey to parliamentary democracy and release prominent political prisoners.

"Now I have a request for you, for your children, for pensioners, for our mothers and fathers, for our brothers farmers and traders, support the fight for democracy", said Mr. Kilicdaroglu.

Mr. Erdogan and the pro-government media portrayed Mr. Kilicdaroglu, who had the support of the pro-Kurdish party, as an accomplice of "terrorists."

He said the country needs a strong leader to stand up to Turkey's Western allies and face dangerous regional challenges that include Syria and Ukraine.

What has increased the concern of Turkey's traditional Western allies is that Mr. Erdogan has forged a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite Russia's attack on Ukraine, a relationship he vowed to deepen during his election campaign.

The Turkish president and his allies also said that Mr. Kilicdaroglu supports what the authorities describe as "deviants" of LGBTI rights.

In his victory speech, Mr. Erdogan repeated these accusations, saying that members of the LGBTI community cannot "infiltrate" his ruling party or its nationalist allies./ VOA