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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey May 18, 2022. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT

Murat Cetinmuhurdar | Reuters

Turkey will keep cutting interest rates, its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, despite soaring inflation at over 80%.

The central bank of Turkey will not be raising rates, he told CNN Turk on Wednesday night, adding that he expects the country's key rate, currently 12%, to hit single digits by the end of this year.

Faced with deepening economic problems, Erdogan also took the time to throw some barbs at the U.K., saying that the British pound has "blown up."

The U.K. currency recently hit a historic low against the U.S. dollar at close to $1.03, as the new Conservative government led by Prime Minister Liz Truss put forward an economic plan based heavily on borrowing and tax cuts despite mounting inflation that sent markets reeling.

It's prompted alarmed reactions from U.S. economists, policymakers and the International Monetary Fund, with some saying the U.K. is behaving like an emerging market.

Turkey's lira, meanwhile, hit a record low of 18.549 against the dollar on Thursday. The currency has lost roughly 28% of its value against the dollar this year and 80% in the last 5 years as markets shunned Erdogan's unorthodox monetary policy of cutting interest rates despite high inflation.

"Oh the irony, Erdogan giving Truss advice on the economy," Timothy Ash, an emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, said in an email note.

"Turkey has 80% inflation and I guess the worst performing currency over the past decade. Lol.How low the U.K. has sunk."

People browse gold jewelry in the window of a gold shop in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar on May 05, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. Gold prices ticked higher on Monday as the dollar hovered near recent lows, with investors' focus being on a key U.S. inflation reading as it could influence the size of the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate hike.

Burak Kara | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Erdogan doubled down on his controversial monetary plan on Thursday, saying that he told central bank decision-makers to continue lowering rates at its next meeting in October.

"My biggest battle is against interest. My biggest enemy is interest. We lowered the interest rate to 12%. Is that enough? It is not enough. This needs to come down further," Erdogan said during an event, according to a Reuters translation.

"We have discussed, are discussing this with our central bank. I suggested the need for this to come down further in upcoming monetary policy committee meetings," he added. Turkey's central bank shocked markets with two consecutive 100 basis point cuts in the last two months, as many other major economies seek to tighten policy.

The lira meanwhile is set to fall further as Turkey prioritizes growth over tackling inflation, which is at its highest in 24 years. In addition to the skyrocketing living costs this has brought on Turkey's population of 84 million, the country is burning through its foreign exchange reserves and has a widening current account deficit.

As the U.S. Federal Reserve raises its interest rate and the dollar grows stronger, Turkey's many dollar-denominated debts, and the energy it imports in dollars, will only become more painful to pay for.

"With external financing conditions tightening, the risks remain firmly skewed to sharp and disorderly falls in the lira," Liam Peach, a senior emerging markets economist, wrote in a note after Turkey's last rate cut on Sept. 22.

"The macro backdrop in Turkey remains poor. Real interest rates are deeply negative, the current account deficit is widening and short-term external debts remain large," he wrote. "It may not take a significant tightening of global financial conditions for investor risk sentiment towards Turkey to sour and add more downward pressure on the lira."

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ISTANBUL, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Turkey will re-inforce its military presence in northern Cyprus after the United States lifted defence trade restrictions on Cyprus, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

Speaking in a televised interview with broadcaster CNN Turk, Erdogan said the lifting of the restrictions was "inexplicable in terms of content and timing."

Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken had lifted defense trade restrictions for Cyprus for fiscal year 2023. read more

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"The United States, which overlooks and even encourages the steps by the Cypriot-Greek duo that threaten peace and stability in the eastern Mediterranean, will lead to an armament race on the island with this step," Erdogan said.

"Will we stand by? We cannot," he said, adding that Turkey already has 40,000 troops on the island and will reinforce them with land, naval and aerial weapons, ammunition and vehicles, Erdogan said.

"Everyone must know that this last step will not go unresponded and that every precaution will be taken for the security of the Turkish Cypriots," Erdogan said.

Cyprus was split following a 1974 Turkish invasion triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup. Since then, Cyprus has been run by a Greek Cypriot administration in the south that Ankara does not recognise.

The breakaway Turkish state on the northern side of the divided island is only recognised by Ankara.

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Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Sandra Maler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Turkey to re-inforce military presence in northern Cyprus -Erdogan - Reuters

In the spring of 2006, for one of my first jobs in journalism, I worked as a reporting intern for a wire service at the UN headquarters in New York. Two days a week I marched into the sleek Secretariat building looming over the East River, eager to cover the days most urgent issues the Darfur crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global hunger and more.

I soon discovered that diplomats were much better at their jobs than I had imagined. They would look me dead in the eye and respond to my questions with intelligence and apparent insight. Yet, once I had typed up the interview and dropped it into my article, I would realise they had simply used different words to express sentiments that had been said a hundred times before.

Reporting at the UN was like panning for gold: high hopes inevitably crumbled as the sifting turned up only sand. Amid the flurry of flashbulbs, it turned out, very little of substance occurred. By the time I left, I viewed the UN as little more than the worlds pre-eminent public relations platform.

Britain's Prime Minister Liz Truss holds a bilateral meeting with Turkey's President Erdogan at the Turkey Mission Building in New York during the 77th UN General Assembly, on September 21. Pool photo via AP

This might explain why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has over the years shown a knack for grabbing the worlds attention on his autumnal visits to Turtle Bay. In his first UN General Assembly speech in 2005, he declared terrorism the enemy of humankind and launched the Alliance of Civilisations initiative with Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spains then prime minister, to unite international counter-extremism efforts.

In 2014, Mr Erdogan invoked, for the first time on the global stage, the phrase that has since become his refrain on the UN Security Councils five permanent members. I should emphasise that the world is bigger than five, he said.

In 2016, he denounced Europes degrading treatment of a wave of newly arrived, mostly Arab refugees and, just weeks after a failed coup had shaken Turkey, urged the world to take measures against his governments main suspect, the Gulen movement.

In 2019, he proposed a controversial safe zone in northern Syria and defended the rights of Palestinians. Where are the borders of the state of Israel? he wondered, denouncing Israeli annexations as illegitimate.

Absent was the fire of earlier UN speeches. He called for peace in Syria but refrained from criticising the EU and US

Last year, Mr Erdogan handed out copies of his new book, urging reform at the UN and other international bodies, and inaugurated the $300 million Turkish House. He described Turkeys new consulate and permanent UN mission 17 metres taller than Secretariat, just across the street as an expression of his nations growing influence.

This year, in contrast, Mr Erdogan seemed more subdued, seeking to highlight his countrys positive role in world affairs. Citing the need for food security in the Horn of Africa and peace talks in Ukraine, he said Turkey had endeavoured to be part of the solution around the world.

Hes half right, as were in the midst of another Tale-of-Two-Cities moment for Mr Erdogan. At home he may be less well liked than hes been since his last days as Istanbul mayor, a quarter-century ago. And tensions with Greece, Turkeys Aegean neighbour, have spiked in recent weeks as the two have traded insults and accusations.

But farther abroad, despite lingering tensions with the US and EU, Turkey has made real diplomatic gains, including renewed ties with Gulf powers, Israel and Egypt. In New York, Mr Erdogan held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minster Yair Lapid, marking the first time since the George W Bush presidency that an Israeli prime minister met a Turkish president.

However troubling Mr Erdogans threats to open the gates of migration have been, its Turkey not Greece, as top EU officials have asserted that has served as Europes refugee shield, hosting 4-5 million foreigners for nearly a decade and keeping them out of the EU.

Also, even as Turkey has strengthened ties with Azerbaijan, potentially providing Europe with a much-needed alternative to Russian natural gas, Ankara has inched toward normalisation with historic rival Armenia and the opening of their long-closed border.

Last but not least is Ukraine. Ankaras western and Nato allies have been largely unable to criticise its continued friendly relations with Moscow because of how it has leveraged them. With more than 40 countries at risk of famine in late summer, Turkey played a crucial role in bringing Ukraine and Russia to agree on a plan to release millions of tonnes of grain from Ukrainian ports.

Since March, Ankara has spearheaded efforts to bring Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table. There will be no losers in a fair peace process, Mr Erdogan told the UN General Assembly, calling for support of Turkeys diplomacy.

Absent was the fire of earlier UN speeches. He called for peace in Syria but refrained from criticising the EU and US for their unwillingness to help solve the refugee issue. He also stayed his hand on Moscows military mobilisation, even as reports emerged that four of five military summons in Russian-occupied Crimea have gone to Crimean Tatars a persecuted Turkic-Muslim minority Mr Erdogan regularly defends.

His most notable activity in New York was an afternoon stroll in Central Park. He met a local rabbi, sat for photos with parents and their children, and from one passerby, received a hearty "thank you" on Ukraine, for the drones, the grain deal and helping to make Nato stronger.

The Presidents communications team released a seven-minute video of the park visit, which some critics said had been staged. This is understandable; in Turkey, Mr Erdogan does not stroll through parks or chat with everyday citizens. But it all seemed real enough.

Turkeys lira hit yet another record low last week, at 18.42 to the dollar, and the governing AKP has been trailing in polls for months. With elections looming next year, the Central Park video was probably an attempt to humanise Mr Erdogan, to present a warmer leader who is also comfortable in the world.

Maybe after years of relishing his moment in the spotlight, Mr Erdogan has come to share my view that the UN is mostly sound and fury. Perhaps he decided to take a break and enjoy his time in the Big Apple, walk in the park, revel in recent successes, speak in the third person.

A Turkish reporter at the UN asked if he hoped to meet US President Joe Biden and he shook his head. He is Biden, Turkeys leader responded with a grin. Im Erdogan.

Published: September 26, 2022, 2:00 PM

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Erdogan was different at the UN this time - The National

In 1992, shortly after the Soviet Unions collapse, the U.S. Congress passed the Freedom Support Act to support open markets and coordinate assistance for the successor states of the Soviet Union. Against the backdrop of Azerbaijans blockade on Armenia, however, Section 907 of the act forbade the application of assistance to Azerbaijan. The language was simple. United States assistance under this or any other Actmay not be provided to the Government of Azerbaijan until the President determines, and so reports to the Congress, that the Government of Azerbaijan is taking demonstrable steps to cease all blockades and other offensive uses of force against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

For almost a decade, Azerbaijan did not receive any of the billions of dollars distributed under the aegis of the Act. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, though, Azerbaijan positioned itself as a counterterrorism ally. The cost of Azerbaijans support was an amendment establishing a waiver to Section 907, applicable so long as the president (via the State Department) can certify that Azerbaijan remains committed to diplomacy.

Azerbaijan has received a waiver every year since, even though both the Trump and Biden administrations have violated the letter and spirit of the law by issuing a waiver after President Ilham Aliyevs government launched its 2020 attack on Nagorno-Karabakh. Aliyevs open belittling of diplomacy as a means to resolve conflict and eliminationist rhetoric against Armenia as a state should have been clear disqualifiers. Azerbaijan has interpreted the Biden administrations continued waiver as a greenlight for aggression.

While the Biden administration should revoke the waiver for Azerbaijan (and Congress should remove the option if the State Department serially violates the law), both the State Department and Congress should recognize that Section 907 provides an even more potent tool for regional security.

There is credible evidence that, during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Turkey both flew U.S.-provided F-16s in support of Azerbaijan and Turkish Special Forces supported Azerbaijani forces as they captured Shushi (or Shusha as the Azerbaijanis call it). While the language of Section 907 explicitly prohibits United States assistance [to] be provided to the Government of Azerbaijan, it does not limit the prohibition to direct assistance. Indeed, standard American practice is to prohibit transshipment of military hardware. Whether Turks piloted the planes on behalf of Azerbaijan or allowed Azerbaijani pilots to fly them is irrelevant. Either way, Congress can embrace a creative interpretation to apply Section 907 to the prohibition of any military hardware or other assistance to Turkey, NATO member or not, so long as it too does not meet the conditions of the Freedom Support Act. Because Turkey continues to blockade Armenia and openly supported Azerbaijans most recent attack on Armenia proper, it is clear that Turkey would not meet the conditions. To qualify for a waiver, Turkey would essentially have to cut itself off militarily from Azerbaijan instead of using it as a proxy for military aggression and ethnic cleansing.

The ramifications of such a move go further: Turkey continues to occupy one-third of Cyprus, has bombed Kurdish and Yezidi villages in Iraq on an almost daily basis, and increasingly threatens Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. The language of Section 907 might apply to aggression toward Armenia but what happens in Armenia does not stay in Armenia.

Washington might not see Armenia as a pivotal state to regional security, but it should understand that Armenia is the proverbial canary in the coal mine. As Turkey grows more aggressive, it is essential that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress use all non-military tools in their arsenal to prevent Turkish aggression along the breadth of its land and sea borders.

Now a 1945 Contributing Editor, Dr. Michael Rubin is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Dr. Rubin is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books exploring diplomacy, Iranian history, Arab culture, Kurdish studies, and Shiite politics, including Seven Pillars: What Really Causes Instability in the Middle East? (AEI Press, 2019); Kurdistan Rising (AEI Press, 2016); Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes (Encounter Books, 2014); and Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave, 2005).

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Halt Erdogan's Aggression: Apply Section 907 to Turkey - 19FortyFive

Since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began to believe that he had a divine mission of reviving the lost grandeur of the Ottoman Empire, he concluded that a road to achieving that ambition lay through the labyrinth of Islamic revivalism.

3 Key Reasons Why Turkey Is Keen To Reset Its Ties With India & Keep Its Pro-Pakistan, Pro-Kashmir Sentiments On Backburner

In his college days, he was influenced by the Islamic Brotherhood Movement. His pro-Islamist reach is also because of the repeated refusal of the European Union to admit Turkey as a regular member. Deep inside, his inclination towards Islamism springs more from vengeance and much less from conviction in all Islam claims.

The mask of pro-Europeanism started to erase after continuous attempts by Turkey to be a part of the EU failed. After the 2011 Arab Spring, Erdogan asserted his support for Islamist political forces in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region like Mohammad Morsi in Egypt and the Dawn Coalition in Libya, wrote Tahiroglu in Ankaras Failure.

Firstly, Erdogan supported the Muslim Brotherhood-led Morsi government so much so that when Morsi was deposed in 2013 by al-Sisi in a military coup, and the latter became the president, Erdogan refused to recognize Sisi as a legitimate ruler of Egypt.

Secondly, when the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood leadership began under Sisi, many of its leaders and sympathizers relocated to Turkey. Thirdly, Erdogans support of the Muslim Brotherhood has been one of the main issues of contention between Turkey and its relations with the Arabs.

The UAE, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are also on opposing sides of Turkey in Libya. The Arab monarchies are supporting the General Khalifa Haftar-led Libyan National Army.

Erdogan, who has regional ambitions in the Eastern Mediterranean, firmly supports the Government of National Accord, which has close relations with the Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkeys relations with Saudi Arabia have been badly affected after the killing of pro-US Jamal Khashoggi.

However, Qatar and Turkey share ideological convergence in supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups like Hamas. Qatar also opposed Morsis overthrow, like Turkey. This explains the basis of their friendly relationship.

While addressing the Sixth Religious Council meeting of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (DB) in Ankara in November 2019, Erdogan charged that Muslim countries look for solutions in the Western capitals for their problems, instead of reaching out to their Muslim brothers and sisters for help. He contemplates new leadership of the ummah (an Arabic word meaning community) and discards the existing one.

Erdogan has been trying to gather international muscle around the idea of reviving the Muslim ummah, which other Islamic states like Pakistan and Malaysia have actively supported.

Erdogan praised the then Pakistan PM Imran Khan for raising the voice for Muslim ummah and the issue of Kashmir at a reception hosted for the participants of the Third Speakers Conference in Istanbul in October 2019.

At the UN General Assembly in 2019, Erdogan raked up Kashmir and criticized the international community for not paying attention to the issue.

This speech came just a month after the Indian government revoked Jammu and Kashmirs special status (Article 370) in August 2019. He also highlighted the intervention issues in Yemen and Qatar and the Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, and Qatar also tried to create an alternative to the Saudi-dominated Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by holding an Islamic summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2019.

This angered Riyadh, which pressured Pakistan to opt out of the summit. Erdogan, Mahathir Mohammad, Hassan Rouhani, and Qatars Hamad al-Thani participated in the conference.

The group creates an impression that most of the Arab peninsula monarchs have abandoned the cause of ummah, especially Palestine and Kashmir. Thus Erdogan tries to wear the crown of the leadership of the ummah.

Even as he continues to work towards reviving the old Ottoman glory and Ittihad-I Islam(Unity of Islam), Erdogan will have to choose between a pragmatic vis--vis an Islamist foreign policy.

If the Turkish economy returns to high growth rates, Erdogans domestic position will be strengthened, and he might still return to his pet Islamist adventures overseas.

Erdogan has used his unprecedented power to sweep away judges, media outlets, journalists, academics, military officers, and NGOs. According to one estimate, about 120,000 government employees were suspended, dismissed, or imprisoned in the wake of the coup attempt, primarily from the judiciary and education branches.

Over 7,500 soldiers and officers, including over 100 with the rank of brigadier or above, and over 10,000 policemen were sacked, with countless others imprisoned. More than a dozen colleges and universities and 1,000 schools wereclosed.

The licenses of 24 radio and TV channels were revoked, and numerous journalists were arrested, reported BESA Centre Perspectives Paper No. 1,124, March 27, 2019.

Speaking at the annual coordination meeting of the OIC held in New York recently, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, As the second largest international organization, the OIC is our collective voice against injustice towards Muslims. I reaffirm our strong solidarity with the Uyghur Turks, the Rohingya Muslims, our Kashmiri brothers, and all other Muslim communities facing injustice worldwide.

If this is Turkeys conviction, why did Erdogan speak about only Kashmir in his recent address to the UN General Assembly and skip the Uyghur Turks? OIC is doing politics, not religion.

What makes Erdogan hostile to India is not the alleged disregard for the rights of Indian Muslims. No, that is not true. The truth is that Erdogan is very uncomfortable with Indian secular democracy that treats all citizens at par in the eyes of the law.

To Erdogan and the fundamentalists, the Islamic ummah is special specie and has not to be equated with non-Muslims in terms of civic and other rights. Turkeys policy towards the Cypriots is also hinged on the same line of thinking.

Successive governments in Ankara have always sided with Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir. Jagdish N Singh explains Turkeys interference in the Indian part of Kashmir in his article Erdogans Dangerous Ambitions Threaten India and Beyond.

As part of its strategy to attain Muslim leadership status, Ankara has also been reaching out to Indian Muslims. Reliable reports indicate that in the recent past, the Erdogan regime has invited several Indian Islamist leaders, including Zakir Naik, to spread Erdogans influence across India.

Turkish cleric Serdar Demirel visited Kolkata in 2016 to participate in a protest march organized by Muslims opposed to the Indian governments bid to apply a Uniform Civil Code throughout the country. Turkey has also funded Indian NGOs to reach out to Muslim students and influence madrasahs and mosques.

Ankara has given special facilities to Kashmiri Muslim students for admission to professional institutes in Ankara. The daughter of the late Ali Shah Geelani is running a website from Ankara which propagates vicious anti-India and anti-Hindu broadcasts.

Most Kashmiri students who have joined educational institutions in Ankara are taken over by the ISI agents and given good brainwashing.

Jagadish N Singh concludes his write-up in these words: The strategy seems to be working. There are indeed Muslims in India who see Erdogan as a leader of the Muslim world, and they celebrated his victory in the presidential elections of June 2018 in a big way.

Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was among the first to offer congratulations. In a speech to an Islamist group run by Erdogans son Bilal in 2017, Naik described the Turkish president as one of the few Muslim leaders who have the guts to support Islam openly. He said: O Muslim world, wake upMay Erdogan be the next ruler of the Muslim world.

After the coup attempt in Turkey, Indian Islamic cleric Maulana Salman Hussaini Nadvi endorsed Erdogan, and the Shahi Imam of Delhi Sayyid Ahmed Bukhari met the Turkish ambassador to India and expressed his support. Delegations from Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, the Chishty Foundation, and the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) met the envoy.

This narrative about Erdogans Islamist credentials should help New Delhi understand how it has to deal with the interference of a radical nature. It must not allow a Turkish Islamist like Demirel to join a domestic protest in India.

This amounts to interfering with Indias internal matters. New Delhi must not tolerate Ankaras hobnobbing with an Indian Islamist preacher like Zakir Naik, who is alleged to have inspired a terrorist attack on a cafe in Dhaka in 2016 and has been evading an arrest warrant in India. Doing so is tantamount to encouraging terror against India.

Prime Minister Modi and President Erdogan have met on the sidelines of the Samarkand SCO meet. What transpired between the two is not known.

Observers, commenting on Erdogans address to the UN General Assembly just two days after his meeting with Modi in Samarkand, have said that Erdogan toned down his Kashmir tantrum and has now referred to bilateral talks between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.

One wonders whether Modi raised the problems of the Greece-Turkey dispute, Turkeys use of brute force against Kurd dissidents, and Turkeys silence on the atrocities perpetrated on the Uighurs of Xinxiang.

Erdogan is living in a glass house, throwing stones at others. He may or may not become the topmost leader of the Islamic ummah; that is no worry for the global society.

The concern is that he is trying to destabilize the secular-democratic dispensation of the worlds largest democracy which also has the second largest Muslim community as part of its society. This cannot be allowed.

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Turkey Is No Friend Of India; Modi Must Decipher Erdogans Dangerous Ambitions That Threaten India & Beyond - EurAsian Times