Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says lira fall result of ‘enemies’ plot’

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the recent plunge in the value of the lira is a result of a conspiracy to weaken the country.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the recent plunge in the value of the lira is a result of a conspiracy to weaken the country.   

Erdogan emphasized in a speech to local administrators that those who worked to pressure the currency were no different from terrorists. 

He called on the nation to sell foreign currency and help boost the lira – what he said could help foil a plot by the enemies against the country. 

Erdogan said the enemies were using currency speculation to topple the state and urged the central bank to "thwart these games".   

He evoked last July's military coup attempt, when people took to the streets to block tanks, and said anybody who helped the nation achieve its targets would be a hero.

"There is no difference in terms of goals between the terrorist with a gun in his hand and a terrorist with dollars and euros in his hands," said Erdogan as reported by Reuters.

“The purpose is to bring Turkey to its knees. They’re using the exchange rate as a weapon,” he added.

According to a report by Reuters, the lira has lost as much as 10 percent against the dollar since the start of 2017, making it the worst-performing major currency of the new year, as concern over political and economic stability is compounded by doubts about whether the authorities will take decisive steps to stabilize it.

It has also lost almost a quarter of its value in the six months since the failed coup attempt.

After heavy losses over the last week pushed it close to the 4.0 ceiling against the dollar, the lira clawed back Thursday 2,0 percent against the greenback to trade at 3.8 lira to the dollar, AFP reported.