The Religious Roots of Turkey's Currency Crisis

The Religious Roots of Turkey’s Currency Crisis

Turkey’s central bank has precipitously reduced interest rates, apparently for religious reasons.

As Turkey’s economy heads into a tailspin because of the collapse of its currency, the lira, investors and economists wonder why President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has continued the eccentric economic policy that caused this crisis. He has made clear that his motivation is primarily religious.

Mr. Erdoğan has dominated Turkish politics for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles—head of the Justice and Development Party, prime minister and president. Two notable features marked the first half of his rule: constant worry that the fervently secular military leadership would stage a coup, and extraordinary economic growth.

Everything changed in July 2011, when Mr. Erdoğan forced the military chief of staff to quit, along with the heads of the army, navy and air force, giving him control over the armed forces. With no further fear of a coup, he finally was able to pursue fully the Islamist ideology the secular officers had tempered.

Continue reading the full article at wsj.com>

Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum.

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Turkey and Turks

Daniel Pipes

Daniel Pipes, a historian, has led the Middle East Forum since its founding in 1994 and currently serves as chairman on the board of directors. He taught at Chicago, Harvard, Pepperdine, and the U.S. Naval War College. He served in five U.S. administrations, received two presidential appointments, and testified before many congressional committees. The author of 16 books on the Middle East, Islam, and other topics, Mr. Pipes writes a column for the Washington Times and the Spectator; his work has been translated into 39 languages. DanielPipes.org contains an archive of his writings and media appearances; he tweets at @DanielPipes. He received both his A.B. and Ph.D. from Harvard. The Washington Post deems him “perhaps the most prominent U.S. scholar on radical Islam.” Al-Qaeda invited Mr. Pipes to convert and Edward Said called him an “Orientalist.”