Turkey Between Interest Rates And Conspiracy Theories
While Turkey was once praised as a "model" for the region, the recent economic woes facing Ankara and Erdogan’s insufficient response have shaken Turkey's perception in Arab countries.
Our Arab societies have gotten used to conspiracy theories, in which they seem to find justification for their failure to catch up with the train of modernity. Perhaps they are subconsciously affected by their regimes, which use these conspiracy theories to establish their legitimacy and promote the propagandist media of the ruling party.
The infection has reached the Turkish government and its head, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is surprising and shocking.
The man who put Turkey on the path of economic growth and took sound steps in democratic reform — whether by limiting the military’s authority over constitutional institutions or reducing the influence of judges in political life — reacted angrily to the events of Taksim Square and the following collapse of the Turkish financial market. He denounced the events as a foreign conspiracy that is being plotted by "the enemies of Turkey," and the so-called "interest rate lobby."
There is no doubt that Turkey — a rising power both politically and economically — has adversaries. It's a big possibility that the countries competing with Turkey for regional influence would seize any opportunity to destabilize the Erdogan government, which has confronted both Israel and Iran, albeit in different ways. However, it’s quite surprising for a ruling party, one characterized by its rationality, to overlook key structural problems afflicting Turkish society and its economy, and to use shady accusations to evade necessary reforms or rectify mistakes in the government’s performance.
