Low Increase in Interest Rate & more– 27th June 2023

Merhaba from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Turkey Update from the 27th of June twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Turkey.

Let’s kick off this episode with some news on the economy…

As expected, on Thursday, the 22nd, the central bank increased the policy interest rate. However, the surge was way lower than expected. From 8%, it only increased to 15%, not to somewhere between 20 and 40%. Following the increase, experts said that normally they’d expect the Turkish Lira to gain value, but since the increase was below the expectations of the market, it caused the Lira to lose its value further.

On that note, on Monday the 26th, the value of the Turkish Lira dropped to a record low against the dollar with an exchange rate of twenty-six liras per US Dollar. Some experts say that it’ll continue to depreciate and might reach thirty liras or more per dollar in the following weeks.

With the depreciation of the Lira, the minimum wage also lost great value. When the government announced the new minimum wage last week, it was 483 US Dollars. However, it dropped 45 US Dollars in just under a week.

Gold reached an all time high. As of Tuesday the 27th, one gram of gold is worth one thousand six hundred liras, around sixty US Dollars.

Moving on to politics…

Wagner, a private military organization, led a coup attempt in Russia. Kılıçdaroğlu said that the Sadat, or the International Defense Consultancy, was the equivalent of the military organization in Turkey, and that he hoped what happened in Russia would be a lesson for Turkey. He further said that the SADAT wants to destroy the Republic of Turkey and change its language, flag, and constitution; and pointed out that he had repeatedly warned the government about the organization.

Moreover…

On Monday the 26th, the police arrested Merdan Yanardağ, a journalist, for his remarks about Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned head of the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, which Turkey, the EU, NATO and the UN deem a terrorist organization. Yanardağ said that it was against the law to hold Öcalan in solitary confinement. He’s reportedly been in solitary confinement for twenty-five years. Yanardağ stated that if the country applied the law on criminal execution as it was, he’d have to be released. He pointed out that Öcalan hasn’t been allowed to contact his family, or even his lawyers for quite some time. Yanardağ further added that Öcalan has become a ‘philosopher’ from reading in his cell, as that’s all he can do in there. He also called Öcalan a smart person.

Upon this, the prosecutor’s office is currently charging him with making terrorist propaganda and praising crime and a criminal.

The next story might sound like it's from a hundred years ago, but it's way more recent than that. A twenty twenty video of Fatih Erbakan, the head of the New Welfare Party, an ally of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, went viral and received harsh backlash. In the video, he said that since girls reach sexual maturity at fourteen years old, their consent would be “valid.” He further said that many women in Anatolia got married at fourteen, fifteen or sixteen, and they led happy households, adding that it has been like this for centuries. Understandably, his sayings were called into question. One of the harshest criticisms came from a member of the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party, calling Erbakan’s ideology “a threat” to children..

Next up, we have yet another interesting take from Erbakan.

Last week, he also claimed that the teaching of the evolution theory in schools apparently makes people either PKK members or communists, as they also learn about the theory.

Over the weekend, a group of Alevis planned a commemoration event in the Sultangazi district of İstanbul for the 30th anniversary of the Sivas massacre, where radical islamist burned down a hotel that hosted many Alevi intellectuals, killing over thirty people. The district governorate approved the event initially, however, later on, the district security directorate sent a letter to the district governor, saying that the event might turn into a concert as there will be many singers attending the event. The directorate also pointed out in the letter that the Grup Yorum, a music band which the directorate called one of the structures of an armed terror organization, might take the stage.

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The Grup Yorum was founded as a reaction to the nineteen eighty military coup in the country and writes songs about political issues. Members of the group have been imprisoned before on terrorism charges, and the band remains under concert ban to this day.

Upon the letter, the district governorate banned the event citing security concerns. It also banned all sorts of events within the district over the weekend.

Let’s talk about women’s rights…

In a letter she wrote to the Birgün newspaper, Çiğdem Mater, a filmmaker and journalist sentenced to prison because of her participation in the Gezi protests, wrote about being a woman in prison. She said that the prison canteen only had pads as period products, and when she petitioned to have tampons as well, a male doctor reportedly told her that “Turkish women don’t wear tampons.” She ironically noted that this was how she learned tampons had a nationality.

Onto some good news…

On Friday the 23rd, the government lifted the ban on music after midnight. At first it only lifted the ban for Antalya, however that received a lot of backlash, saying the government lifted the prohibition because foreign tourists went to Antalya in the summer. The move was called into question, citing that foreigners live more freely in the country than its citizens. The government later announced the country-wide lift of the ban.

Wednesday the 28th marks the first day of the four-day Feast of the Sacrifice, locally known as Kurban Bayramı. The festival is one of the biggest Islamic holidays in Turkey. It commemorates the story of Prophet İbrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son İsmail to show his faithfulness to God. Seeing İbrahim’s faith in him, God sends Ibrahim a ram to sacrifice instead of his son. The festival is about charity and solidarity. Traditionally, on the first day of the festival, many households sacrifice livestock. They keep one third of the meat and give the rest to people in need. However, with the rise in animal activism in recent years, more and more people opt to donate money to charities instead. In addition to the concern for animals, because of the rising inflation and living costs, many people can’t afford to buy livestock anymore.

Since this is a public holiday, all the public institutions will be closed throughout the four days of the festival. However, private businesses might choose to open their stores on the third or fourth day of the festival.

Even though the festival begins on Wednesday, many people began their holidays over the weekend. On Monday the 26th, people reported that the city was unusually calm, as many left for their hometown or on a summer holiday for the weekend. The traffic density in the city dropped to below 10%, from its usual 70%.

While this is good news for İstanbul, the southwestern part of the country is not as happy about this, as the people leaving big cities travel there to enjoy the sun and the sea, increasing the population up to fifteen fold in some areas. For example, Akyaka, a neighborhood in the city of Muğla known for its calm atmosphere, has a population of four thousand. However, over the weekend the number reached over sixty thousand.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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