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**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-23-2013, 05:57 PM

Erdogan Retaliation Seen Hurting Gulen Companies: Istanbul Mover

By Benjamin Harvey Dec 23, 2013 4:26 PM GMT 0 Comments Email Print

Companies close to Fethullah Gulen’s religious movement plunged in Istanbul on speculation that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is regaining the upper hand in a power struggle with the Islamic cleric.

Islamic lender Asya Katilim Bankasi AS (ASYAB) slumped 11 percent, energy explorer Ipek Dogal Enerji Kaynaklari & Uretim AS also dropped 11 percent, gold explorer Koza Altin Isletmeleri AS (KOZAL) fell 6.6 percent and basic metals miner Koza Anadolu declined 12 percent at the close in Istanbul today. The companies are represented by business lobby Tuskon, which utilizes the Gulen movement’s network to expand in the developing world, according to the group’s chairman Rizanur Meral.

Erdogan and Gulen, a 75-year-old cleric based in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, have been exchanging barbs since Dec. 17, when an investigation into official corruption ensnared the chief executive officer of a state-run bank, a construction billionaire and the sons of three ministers. In a video published on his website on Dec. 21, Gulen wished fire on the houses of the corrupt. Erdogan responded yesterday, saying he’d “descend upon the dens” of those hiding inside state institutions.

“The sentiment is changing against Gulen,” Haydar Acun, a managing partner at Sardis Securities Inc., a brokerage in Istanbul, said by e-mail today. “The prime minister’s comments have obviously scared off investors.”

‘Parallel State’

The four companies were the biggest decliners on the exchange today. The Borsa Istanbul 100 (XU100) Index dropped 2.1 percent, extending losses since the Dec. 17 corruption probe to 9 percent.

Gulen, whose followers are influential in the judiciary and police forces that are leading the investigations into corruption, has denied any role in the probes. Erdogan says there is evidence of a “parallel state” within the state that’s seeking to overthrow his elected government.

Koza Group’s investor relations team, which also answers for Ipek, was in meetings and unavailable for comment today, according to a person who answered the phone at their offices in Ankara. Bank Asya, as the Islamic lender is known, didn’t immediately respond, requesting a written request for comment.

Grave Allegations

The allegations of corruption are “grave” and all steps in the probe should adhere to the rule of law, Tuskon said in an e-mailed statement today. Bribery in the state is “like cancer” and “will cause the country to collapse unless precautionary measures are taken immediately,” the group said.

More than 100 officers in Turkey have been purged by Erdogan’s government since the first detentions on Dec. 17 and journalists were banned from police stations as of yesterday. Erdogan said on Dec. 21 that he would reveal one-by-one those behind what he says is a plot against his government, and made reference to a media group that also owned gold licenses.

The Koza-Ipek group also owns Bugun newspaper, Bugun TV and Kanal Turk with its media unit Ipek Medya. Haberturk newspaper’s editor-in-chief Fatih Altayli said in an editorial on Dec. 22 that the government was planning an operation against a bank linked to Gulen, without naming the bank or saying how he got the information.

“Erdogan seems determined to hit the Gulen party where it hurts them most, in their Treasury coffers, by making unveiled, unambiguous threats to the Koza Group that their mining licenses could be revoked and instigating some kind of investigation into the operations of Bank Asya,” Julian Rimmer, a broker at London-based CF Global Trading U.K. Ltd., said in e-mailed comments today. “The share price collapses are understandable reactions given the high political stakes.”

Shares in property developer Emlak Konut Gayrimenkul Yatirim Ortakligi AS (EKGYO) jumped as much as 5.1 percent, the most in more than a month, before closing down 0.9 percent at the close. The company said Chief Executive Officer Murat Kurum and two board members returned to work yesterday following questioning by police in relation to the graft probe.

Erdogan Retaliation Seen Hurting Gulen Companies: Istanbul Mover - Bloomberg

*Erdogan will not win in the long run as he faces the combined might of:

- Gulenists
- CHP
- Gezi movement
- Army (who hate him)

I can't wait for the day that Erdogan is arrested and put on trial like his friend, Morsi.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-23-2013, 06:10 PM

Turkey’s Corruption Scandal Goes from Bad to Worse

Michael Rubin | @mrubin1971
12.23.2013 - 7:00 AM

Sometimes, bad things happen to bad people. I wrote here last week regarding the political civil war in Turkey which has erupted between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and followers of Islamist leader Fethullah Gülen. Many trusted Turkish interlocutors have written to expand on the topic, which has manifested itself as a bribery scandal. Erdoğan, in true banana republic style, reacted initially by seeking to sack the police chiefs overseeing the investigation. His ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is now threatening to classify any information from the bribery scandal as a “state secret,” the publishing of which could be punishable as treason.

Several Turkish journalists and academics point out that the investigation appears to now focus on Egemen Bağış, Turkey’s minister for European Union affairs, and one of Erdoğan’s closest aides. Illegality or not, Bağış is one of the AKP’s least-liked figures. AKP colleagues, Turkish journalists, and both American and European diplomats describe him as boorish, arrogant, and a bit of a blowhard. He is also extremely litigious, and has sought to sue Turkish journalists and analysts who have touched on some of his shadier dealings. Now that the arrests have propelled discussion of AKP corruption to the forefront, Hürriyet Daily News discusses the case in a bit more detail. Not surprisingly, it involves several AKP officials seeking to profit off of Iran’s sanctions-busting “Gold-for-Gas” scheme with Turkey:

[Economy Minister Zafer] Çağlayan’s son was arrested during a corruption operation on Dec. 17, together with the sons of two other ministers;Environment and Urbanization Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar and Interior Minister Muammer Güler. The leaks, possibly from prosecutor’s office and police, to Turkish media claim that those ministers, plus Turkey’s European Union Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış have been involved in facilitating the “business” of Reza Zarrab in Turkey by taking bribes and abusing their offices. The “business” is to transfer Zarrab’s money from gold trade over Turkey to Iran via the government-controlled Halkbank… the amount of the total bribery is reported in Turkish media to be as high as 142 million Turkish Liras, nearly $70 million….

Not mentioned in the Turkish press is the fact that the Obama administration issued sanctions waivers on Turkey’s business dealings with Iran because it concluded that the Turkish government was approaching the issue in good faith.

The wall of fear now seems to be breaking down. Newspapers journalists who once only whispered the truth about events in Turkey but whose employers would sanitize whatever they put in print, out of fear that the government might jail them or confiscate their newspaper, now publish what amounts to confessions about just how corrupt the AKP has become. Today’s Zaman, the English-language flagship paper of the Gülen movement, for example, wrote:

A foreign businessman who has been working in Turkey for over 10 years told me last week that he was not surprised at all by the allegations of corruption at the highest level. Without close connections in the ruling party and, apparently, big bribes, it was impossible to win any tender in the highly profitable energy sector, he explained.

The allegations of bribery and corruption are also starting to get too close to Erdoğan for his comfort. Supposedly, one element of the scandal is that the prime minister’s son, his wife, his in-laws, and some close friends set up a foundation last year for the “education of youth.” The foundation opened a residence for university students. Now it turns out the Foundation didn’t pay for the dormitory, but rather public money from the Fatih district municipality, which is headed by an AKP mayor now under detention. So what Erdoğan’s family did with the money they claimed was spent on the dormitory is an unanswered question.

The AKP has long claimed to have advanced Turkey’s democracy. If a core of democracy is rule of law, then Turkey now is put to the test.

Turkey

This has been the first week of the Gulen v AKP/Erdogan war. Erdogan's credibility has been severely shaken and he has been exposed.

If the Lira stays low and the Turkish economy crumbles Erdogan will be out.

Not to mention the possibility of a Gezi 2 uprising. The original Gezi uprising saw the Turkish police use all their reserves of tear gas and having to order more supplies from abroad. The police was unquestionably loyal then. Now many in the Gulenist-infiltrated police force will want to see Erdogan out.

If Turkey becomes ungovernable, then the army will probably step in and "ask" for Erdogan's resignation or may even simply arrest him.

Speech of Turkish PM Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan on Martyr Abdul Quader Mollah - YouTube

The Turkish media have been broadcasting shockingly pro-Jamaat propaganda and not even mentioning the war crimes of 1971. Erdogan has jumped on the bandwagon and glorified a man who is accused of being a war criminal and making statements highly offensive to the 150 million Muslims of Bangladesh.

Erdogan's regime it seems has allowed/organized an attack on the Bangladeshi embassy too.

Erdogan will pay for his crimes.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-23-2013, 06:46 PM

The Turkish police are reportedly now targeting Erdogan's son for possible arrest.

Bilal Erdo?an'?n vakf?na polis takibi - Gerçek Gündem

Bilal Erdogan, son of Tayyip Erdogan, who has become a millionaire and suspected of involvement in corruption.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-23-2013, 06:51 PM

Bribe Delivery to PM Erdoğan Family Foundation

Sound and video evidence of corruption related to the AKP and PM Erdoğan are shaking the government. A bribe delivery made to the TÜRGEV foundation close to the Erdoğan family was recorded on camera.

Mon, 23 Dec 2013 02:09pm

Bilal Erdoğan (left)

The corruption and bribery investigation being carried out by the Istanbul Republican Chief Prosecution Office has reached as far as members of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s family, it has been claimed, with Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan, his daughter Esra Albayrak and his son-in-law Serhat Albayrak all mentioned in the scandal. In the allegations of gold smuggling, it has been put forward that on the 19 July 2013 Ahmet Öziş, a private courier of businessman Reza Zarrab who was arrested in the operation, had gone with two bags containing bribe money to the general directorate of the TÜRGEV foundation (Service for Youth and Education Foundation of Turkey), of which the three Erdoğan family members are all founders.
The following statement was included in the police information notes in the investigation dossier: “Ahmet Murat Öziş entered the TÜRGEV building with two large bags. At around 11:40, Ahmet Murat Öziş left the building with one small bag in his hand. Courier Öziş is a particular individual who only moves the money of Rıza Sarraf (Reza Zarrab). Eight days before this delivery, on 11 July 2013, he delivered the bribery money to the house of Halkbank general director Süleyman Aslan in a shoe box.”
In the investigation dossier, it was contended that Öziş took bribe money to a number of addresses linked to Zarrab, with images connected to this also found in the dossier. As a result of these allegations and the evidence against them, Öziş was detained on the charges of “creating an organisation in order to commit crimes” and “being a vehicle for taking and giving bribes.”
With many believing that last week’s operation was merely the tip of the iceberg, observers of Turkish politics will wait with bated breath to discover how deep these bribery and corruption operations go, and whether they will reach as far as Prime Minister Erdoğan himself.

http://www.aydinlikdaily.com/Bribe-Delivery-to-PM-Erdo%C4%9Fan-Family-Foundation-1673

**Toramana** · 12-23-2013, 11:54 PM

Bengal_Tiger I am with you on secular versus Islamist conflict. All Islamists including Ordegan should be ousted.

**asad71** · 12-24-2013, 06:27 AM

Originally posted by Bengal_Tiger View Post

Lawyers pray on SC premises, Turkish sympathisers protest | Dhaka Tribune

1. Foreign governments do things that would anger Turkish nationalists or "Islamists" all the time, e.g. Israel killing Palestinians, China killing Uighurs but none of these embassies are attacked.

2. Even when India and Pakistan have live border skirmishes with Pakistani soldiers being killed, we do not see the Indian embassy being attacked in Pakistan.

It seems that either:

a: There was a genuine lack of security for the Bangladeshi embassy.

b: The anti-Bangladeshi protestors were allowed to attack the embassy. Highly possible since if it was so easy to attack an embassy it would be a regular occurence and would undermine foreign diplomats' confidence in Turkish security.

c: The Turkish AKP regime more than allowing it had an actual role in this.

Here is a video of the Anatolian Youth Association or "Anadolu Genclik Dernegi"

Ä°Ãœ AvcÄ±lar KampÃ¼sÃ¼nde AGD'li Ã–ÄŸrencilere SaldÄ±rÄ± - YouTube

Pro-AKP thugs from the "Anadolu Genclik Dernegi".

Since that happened the Turkish lira has fallen to a record low. I am not saying there is a causal relationship between the two but making an observation.

Turkish lira hovers near record low on graft probe | Reuters

Turkish central bank hints at action as corruption row, Fed sink lira | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT

The Turkish lira is at record lows.

- Over 100 Turkish police chiefs across the country have been fired.

- Protests have hit Istanbul with clashes with police.

- A Turkish police officer has died in a "suicide", right at the time of a police investigation in to an anti-corruption scandal.

The Turkish economy could crash in yet another recession like the early 2000s, Erdogan would be out and probably on trial.

The CHP might/might not come in to power again. The party of social democrat, Bulent Ecevit, a prime minister who learned and spoke fluent Bengali.

Ecevit with a picture of Bengali Nobel prize winner, Tagore.

Ecevit in a picture by Turkey's famous Hurriyet newspaper. The Hurriyet newspaper supported Bangladeshi independence and Turkey was one of the first Muslim countries to recognize Bangladesh.

The AKP is an anti-Bangladeshi party which interferes in Bangladesh affairs and supports pro-Pakistan elements. Erdogan himself is now in a tour in Pakistan after offending Bangladeshi sensitivities and feelings, possibly after having a role in the attack on the Bangladeshi embassy.

Good luck to Turkish social democrats in removing Erdogan from power and restoring traditionally warm relations between Bangladesh and Turkey.

Bülent Ecevit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-24-2013, 02:17 PM

Originally posted by Toramana View Post

Bengal_Tiger I am with you on secular versus Islamist conflict. All Islamists including Ordegan should be ousted.

I am not a secularist but a practising Muslim. I don't have problems with moderate "Islamists" but I dislike extremists and also supporters of Jamaat e Islami in Bangladesh e.g. Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, An-Nahda in Tunisia, AKP in Turkey. These groups constitute a national security threat to my country.

**khushal** · 12-24-2013, 02:20 PM

^^so who are you saluting in this thread?

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-24-2013, 02:41 PM

Turkey’s business sector hit by scandal fallout

By Dan Dombey in Istanbul

A bank caught up in the widening corruption scandal in Turkey denied on Monday it had broken the law, as shares in companies linked to government opponents plummeted in a sign the political fallout was affecting the country’s divided business sector.

Halkbank, a state-controlled bank whose chief executive was detained pending trial at the weekend, told the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange it complied “fully with national and international regulations in its businesses and transactions”.

Suleyman Aslan, Halkbank chief executive, has said cash at his home – police reportedly found $4.5m in shoeboxes – was for charitable donations.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, says the corruption investigation, in which the sons of two cabinet ministers have also been detained, is part of a plot by enemies of Turkey and has threatened to “break the hands” of those responsible. He added at the weekend that Halkbank “scares Turkey’s enemies”.

The launch of the investigation is widely seen within Turkey as a result of the government’s clash with the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a preacher whose followers are particularly influential within the police and prosecution services.
In a sign of the possible economic consequences of that rift, Gulenist-linked companies plunged on Monday.

Bank Asya, an Islamic bank, fell more than 13 per cent on the previous day’s close as of Monday evening. Koza Altin, a gold group owned by prominent sympathisers of Mr Gulen, fell by more than 11 per cent despite issuing a statement emphasising that it did not depend on the government for business or tenders.

Turkish Airlines, 49 per cent-owned by the state, has also halted purchases of Gulenist newspapers, including Zaman, which claims it is Turkey’s biggest circulation paper.

The scandal has exploded at a time when Turkey’s economy was already the subject of unease because of its dependence on short-term capital flows just as the US Federal Reserve is reducing its monetary stimulus. As of Monday evening, the Turkish lira was trading at TL2.096 to the US dollar – near its all-time low.

Government supporters allege Halkbank is being targeted by Turkey’s foes for its part in racking up billions of dollars worth of gold exports to Iran, while pro-government newspapers accuse the US of being behind the investigation – accusations Washington says are wholly unfounded.

The US has sought to halt gold exports to Tehran as part of a sanctions regime aimed at pressuring the government to rein in its disputed nuclear programme.

Halkbank itself has long been in a focus of US scrutiny because of its links to Iran. US officials say that co-operation with the bank, which some see as an extension of Mr Erdogan’s government, has recently improved.
Halkbank’s own statement on Monday emphasised that there was no international or local ban on exporting gold to Iran until July this year, adding that it halted such precious metal transactions as of June. The gold exports had allowed the transfer of funds to Iran, often in return for oil and gas exports to Turkey, without doing business with sanctions-afflicted banks.
Another of the principal focuses of the probe is Reza Zarab, an Azeri-Iranian businessman who allegedly made payments to Turkish ministers and who says he legally exported billions of dollars worth of gold from Turkey. The ministers also say they have done nothing wrong.

Nevertheless, concern about the corruption claims, the government’s subsequent removal of dozens of police officers from the investigation and impact on the economy has been expressed by all three of Turkey’s leading business organisations, Tusiad, Musiad and Tuskon, which are respectively seen as close to Turkey’s old secular elite, Mr Erdogan’s Islamist rooted AK party and the Gulenists.

Turkish businessmen and foreign diplomats have already suggested that some foreign direct investment in Turkey was put on hold after Mr Erdogan’s crackdown on last summer’s mass protests against his rule, because of concerns about political risk and unpredictability.

Turkey’s business sector hit by scandal fallout - FT.com

Comment from the article:

Cervantes | December 24 12:30pm | Permalink

These should not be surprising to any casual observer of Turkish politics and economy. Under the veil of competent economic policy and democratization, AKP dismantled an already weak institutional infrastructure in Turkey and replaced it with a primitive relationship economy. This is only the tip of the iceberg which was exposed when the AKP-Gulenist coalition came to an end as a result of conflict of interest between two groups. Islamists of all brands have been plundering the country for over 10 years, albeit with an increasing bravado since 2011 elections. While corruption has been a staple of Turkish life, the extent it has reached during the AKP rule is unprecedented simply because of state controlled judiciary and media. It is no wonder that Turkey tops the rankings in the number of journalists jailed in the world. Whether AKP can manipulate its way out of this quagmire or not will determine the future of the country.
What really boggles my mind is how Europeans and Americans bought the AKP story in 2002 when it was so clear that they had no interest in democratization of Turkey. It was so clear that they disguised their power grab under a push for democracy. Yet, Erdogan and his company were given generous blank checks by Turkey’s western allies. Is it ignorance, or collapse of a disillusioned grand scheme about Turkey?

* The Lira has fallen to a record low though it is apparently recieving some support.

If the Lira falls inflation goes up. Food, fuel, clothes the cost of all these increases for Turks, a country where 25% of children are poor.

http://betam.bahcesehir.edu.tr/en/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ResearchBrief147.pdf

- More than anything else what Turks care about is not "Kemalism" or "Islamism" but having a decent life for their families i.e. the economy. If the economy goes then Erdogan will be out.

- Erdogan used the "good Muslim" card to woo the Anatolian masses and he was voted in after Turkish disillusionment with other parties who were corrupt and led Turkey to a recession. If Erdogan is proven to be another corrupt liar it will damage the image of "Islamist" (Milli Gorus) politics in Turkey for a long time.

- The Turkish economy is heading for recession anyway as it was based on a credit bubble partly supported by Gulf Arab money, the same Gulf Arabs who are now angry with Erdogan's support for the "Muslim" Brotherhood.

- Expect the release of more Kemalist generals from prison. Generals who will be eager to take revenge on Erdogan.

Previous head of the Turkish military, Ilker Basbug, now in prison.

Hursit Tolon, another Kemalist general put in prison.

Whatever one says, Erdogan is not in the same position as he was 1 week ago. He is much weaker and the Kemalist army would now not be afraid to overthrow him (if given US approval) since they no longer have to worry about Gulenist prosecutors imprisoning them.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-24-2013, 05:03 PM

** ERDOGAN FEELING THE PRESSURE **

Erdogan plans reshuffle after probe

December 24 2013 at 04:03pm

Ankara - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rattled by a huge corruption scandal implicating some of his closest allies, is preparing a cabinet reshuffle, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Tuesday.

Gul said the premier, who is on an official visit to Pakistan, is expected to announce the reshuffle after he returns late Tuesday.

“We have held long talks with the prime minister on ministers... He is making preparations and evaluations. We will meet when he is back and you will get an answer following this meeting,” Gul told reporters in Ankara.

Erdogan, who was already expected to change up his cabinet ahead of local elections on March 30, is expected to replace 10 ministers almost half the cabinet, according to media reports.

Several newspapers have reported that ministers caught up in a high-level bribery and corruption probe are set to be replaced.

Twenty-four people including the sons of Interior Minister Muammer Guler and Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, as well as the chief executive of state-owned Halkbank, have so far been charged as part of three separate investigations into the bribery allegations.

Erdogan, who has led Turkey since 2002 as the head of a conservative Islamic-leaning government, has described the probe as “a smear campaign” to undermine Turkey's ambitions to become a major political and economic power.

The premier has responded to the probe by sacking dozens of police chiefs.

In his first direct response to the graft controversy, Gul described the probe as “political plotting” but said allegations of bribery can not be covered up.

“The judiciary is independent. If there is corruption, it can't be concealed. Everyone should be respectful of the judicial process. The judiciary will reach the right conclusion,” he said.

Observers say the wide-ranging investigation has exposed a rift between Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and Fethullah Gulen, a hugely influential Muslim cleric who lives in the United States.

The Gulen movement wields considerable influence in Turkey's police and in the judiciary.

Erdogan plans reshuffle after probe - World News | IOL News | IOL.co.za

- Erdogan is in a state of panic, first he fires over 100 police chiefs across Turkey, now he is changing half of his cabinet.

- The Lira is dropping, Kemalist generals will probably be out of prison, another Gezi style uprising is possible and this time Gulenists in the police and media will not support him.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-24-2013, 05:08 PM

Basci Burning $15 Billion Fails to Halt Lira Drop: Turkey Credit

By Selcuk Gokoluk Dec 24, 2013

It took Turkish politicians five days to undo what central bank Governor Erdem Basci spent almost $15 billion trying to achieve: lira stability.

Trader expectations for future price swings in the currency posted the biggest weekly jump since August in the period ended Dec. 20. Implied volatility in the lira was 11.6 percent yesterday, the highest after South Africa’s rand among peers in emerging Europe and Africa.

The Turkish currency slumped to a record 2.0992 against the dollar today as a graft probe implicating four ministers and the chief executive officer of Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS shook investor confidence. The central bank sold $400 million in foreign exchange that day and said it may boost the size of daily auctions as much as tenfold. It will sell at least $3 billion by the end of the month and a minimum of $3 billion in January, Basci said at a conference in Ankara today.

“Raising the fight against lira depreciation via foreign-exchange intervention is more likely to be a red flag to speculators than calm,” Christian Lawrence, a currency strategist at Rabobank International in London, wrote in e-mailed comments yesterday. “The central bank doesn’t have enough reserves to really fight the market.”

Turkey’s foreign-exchange reserves stood at $115 billion as of Dec. 13, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This compares with $480 billion for Russia, $375 billion for Brazil and $176 billion for Mexico. Daily currency auctions in Turkey started on June 11.

Corruption Probe

The lira fell 2.5 percent last week as it came under pressure from the corruption probe and the Federal Reserve’s Dec. 18 announcement that it would reduce its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion. It strengthened today as Basci pledged to increase currency sales.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, embattled by a corruption probe that has prompted investors to sell Turkish assets, vowed to purge his administration of groups he said are plotting against the government. The chief executive officer of Halkbank was arrested under the investigation embroiling the sons of three ministers.

Markets have plunged on concern the arrests are part of an escalating power struggle between the government and followers of U.S.-based Islamist cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally who has a wide following in the police and judiciary.

Lira Outlook

“Political risks in Turkey have risen after the corruption-related arrests,” Ilan Solot, a strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in London, said in e-mailed comments yesterday. With “fundamentals remaining poor, the lira now looks set to underperform again after outperforming within emerging markets recently,” he said.

The lira’s depreciation last week was the biggest among 24 emerging markets. The two-year note yield fell eight basis points, or 0.08 percentage points, to 9.68 percent today and the currency advanced 0.8 percent to 2.0805 at 3:30 p.m. in Istanbul, the most among 24 emerging market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.

Reducing currency volatility will be “very difficult” against the backdrop of Fed tapering unless the Turkish central bank tightens policy, Murat Toprak, head of European, Middle East and African currency strategy at HSBC Bank Plc in London, said in e-mailed comments yesterday.

At the central bank’s monthly policy meeting last week, Basci maintained the one-week repurchase rate at 4.5 percent and held the upper and lower bands of his rates corridor at 7.75 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. The governor will speak in Ankara today on monetary policy.

“A way to decrease foreign-exchange volatility is to restore the risk premium by hiking interest rates,” Toprak said. The “higher cost of carry would discourage short lira positions and consequently reduce the volatility,” he said.

Basci Burning $15 Billion Fails to Halt Lira Drop: Turkey Credit - Bloomberg

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-24-2013, 05:24 PM

One AKP MP has criticized Erdogan, who is seen as a tough leader who cannot be questioned within his AKP.

Yet there were misgivings within AK, one of whose lawmakers, Haluk Ozdalga, was quoted by local media as saying: "To give the executive organs such a large opportunity to intervene greatly violates the independence of the judiciary".

reuters.com

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/24/us-turkey-corruption-idUSBRE9BN0D720131224

Haluk Ozdalag an AKP MP.

This is in addition to two AKP MPs leaving the party in the past few weeks.

Those AKP cabinet ministers who lose their positions in Erdogan's reshuffle might also turn on him.

If the lira stays at very low rates and inflation spirals and political controversy continues or increases and AKP infighting increases, Erdogan will have to go.

His days are numbered.

Also:

Those involved in graft will 'be held accountable,' PM Erdoğan tells crowd gathered in show of support

Hundreds of people gathered at Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport Dec. 24 to welcome Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on his return from Pakistan in a show of support amid an unprecedented graft investigation which implicates the sons of three government ministers and the general manager of state-owned Halkbank.

In the spontaneous rally, reminiscent of Erdoğan’s speech at the Istanbul airport at the height of the Gezi protests, the prime minister vowed to hold to account those involved in corruption, but maintained his defiant stance describing, once again, the probe as an attack against his government.

“Anyone who has taken the right of the people and of the poor orphan, will be held accountable by [the government] and justice,” Erdoğan said, emphasizing however the probe targeted “national will.”

“The backdrop of the operations against our government on Dec. 17 [targets] the national will, the people. There is a choice here: Either the people, or humiliation. I believe those who say the people will win and those who aspire to humiliate will lose again,” Erdoğan said.

The high-level graft probe has shaken the political establishment, exposing a bitter feud between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose followers hold key positions in the police, judiciary and secret services.

Twenty-four people have been formally arrested under the corruption investigation that hit Turkey last week, including the sons of Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan.

In response, approximately 70 police officers, including the powerful head of Istanbul’s force, have been sacked or moved to different posts.

Erdoğan pointed to the upcoming local elections early next year as a new threshold. “Don’t forget, March 30 is a milestone,” he told his supporters in a short address. “Let them lay their traps, but there is nothing bigger than the trap of the people. We will endeavor to work more and be more united,” he said.

Erdoğan also sent a message to Gülen, who had cursed the purge of police officials in an emotional speech published on his website herkul.org.

“I’m condemning curses and inviting prayer,” Erdoğan said, implicitly referring to Gülen’s invocation of God’s punishment for those responsible for sacking or removing the officers involved in the corruption investigation from their posts.

Erdoğan is expected to make an extensive cabinet reshuffle in the following days, where the issue of the four ministers involved – Environment and Urbanization Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar, European Union Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış, along with Güler and Çağlayan – will be on the agenda.

POLITICS - Those involved in graft will 'be held accountable,' PM Erdo

*Erdogan has removed the prosecutors from the corruption cases and installed people loyal to him. So perhaps the corrupt politicians cannot be found guilty. However there is far more dirt the Gulenists have on Erdogan and his regime, not to mention the lira collapsing, a possible Gezi 2 and Kemalist generals released from prison.

Erdogan will probably remove some of the most senior people in the AKP government including the interior minister and economy minister, the two most important ministries of the government alongside the foreign ministry.

Those ministers who are dumped by Erdogan may feel betrayed by him and who knows what they will do in revenge.

It is quite possible that Erdogan, a wily politician, knows that in the long-term his days are over and is putting on a defiant face externally but is internally thinking of how to resign in a non-humiliating way.

One thing is certain, the next few weeks of Turkish politics will be very interesting.

**RevolutionThroughReason** · 12-25-2013, 08:16 AM

This news is pretty vapid; you read similar things about Obama, Putin and even Bangladesh.

**Bengal_Tiger** · 12-25-2013, 09:05 AM

*** 3 MINISTERS RESIGN....MINISTER SAYS ERDOGAN SHOULD RESIGN ***

Environment Minister Bayraktar announces resignation, calls on PM Erdoğan to quit

Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar announced his resignation from Cabinet and Parliament today, further calling on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to resign amid a continuing graft investigation that has gripped the country.

Bayraktar joins Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who also announced their resignations earlier today.

Bayraktar said most of the amendments on construction plans mentioned in the investigation had been made with Erdoğan’s knowledge. He also added that he received pressure to submit his own resignation.

“I don’t accept the fact that I have received pressure. A resignation letter and a declaration were sent to us today. I consider this wrong in such a situation,” Bayraktar told private broadcaster NTV.

Twenty-four people have been arrested under the corruption investigation that rocked Turkey last week, including the sons of Güler and Çağlayan.

Bayraktar’s son was also among those detained under the investigation, but he was released pending trial on Dec. 21.

POLITICS - Environment Minister Bayraktar announces resignation, calls on PM Erdo

Erdogan wanted these ministers to resign and they have done so, but one in anger that he was to be sacrificed by Erdogan. This minister, Erdogan Bayraktar, has called for Erdogan to resign.

One of those stepping down, Environment and Urbanisation Minister Erdogan Bayraktar, urged the prime minister to follow suit - an unprecedented challenge to the Turkish leader, who has cast the scandal as a foreign-orchestrated plot and purged police in response.

"For the sake of the wellbeing of this nation and country, I believe the prime minister should resign," Bayraktar, whose son was briefly detained in the case that erupted on Dec. 17, told NTV news channel.

Erdogan challenged as 3 Turk ministers quit over scandal

The minister is saying that Erdogan approved all the construction projects where corruption was involved, though this minister and the other 2 ex-ministers all say (naturally) they themselves were not involved in corruption.

Erdogan's AKP party will be rocked by this.

- Some may leave what they see is the sinking AKP ship.

- Some may join other parties.

- Some may work to try and form a new party not immediately but in the medium-term.

Trading on the lira is suspended because of Christmas, but after Christmas the lira may yet again face problems. Inflation and the cost of living may increase, Turks won't be happy especially during the cold winter. Erdogan will be seen as a corrupt and dishonest leader.

Announcement

Turks attack Bangladeshi embassy.......lira falls to record low

Turks attack Bangladeshi embassy.......lira falls to record low

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