Erdogan's son-in-law blames Turkish Lira's plunge on Trump

Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak argues that the Turkish economy is not fragile.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey’s Finance Minister, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, Berat Albayrak accused US President Donald Trump of targeting the Turkish Lira which saw yet another deep plunge to a historical 7.22 on Sunday night as Asian markets began the week.

“It is malicious to blame the Turkish economy of fragility in this state of affairs at a time a US President targeted our currency directly,” Albayrak was quoted by the major Hurriyet newspaper as saying.

“Plans to relieve the markets are ready,” a headline on the paper’s website read.

Albayrak, a figure seen as his father-in-law Erdogan’s right hand on the country’s nominally independent Central Bank, unveiled on Friday what he a called “the New Economic Approach.”

A speech that was postponed twice and made Albayrak sweat led to more distrust in the financial markets with the Turkish Lira losing value against the US Dollar as he spoke in front of a PowerPoint presentation.

At the very same moment, Trump tweeted about his administration’s sanctions on two Turkish ministers for their role in the continued detention of American Pastor Andrew Brunson and new tariff rules on Ankara.

“I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar! Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time,” Trump posted on Twitter.

Erdogan has called the downward spiral of the Lira “economic warfare,” summoned God for help, and urged citizens to exchange Dollars, Euros, and Gold they have for the national currency.

The Turkish economy, suffering from a lack of liquidity, government’s refusal of structural reforms, low-interest rates per Erdogan’s orders, the disempowerment of judicial control over state expenditure, high inflation numbers of up to 13.5 percent, and a rising unemployment testing 10 percent levels, has for years relied on grand infrastructural projects and foreign investment.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany