Erdogan appeals for national unity as Turkish markets plunge
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, has appealed for national unity in a television address tonight. The speech was recorded on Saturday, a day after the army threatened to intervene in the presidential poll process.
The Turkish stock market plunged 8 per cent this morning and the Turkish lira lost 4 per cent of its value in response to the political tensions gripping the country.
The prospect of an Islamist becoming president of the traditionally secularist nation has sent up to a million Turks out to protest on the streets of Istanbul, and alarmed the country’s military enough to issue a warning that it is “the absolute defender of secularism”.
It has also shaken the financial markets, unnerving the foreign investors who have returned to Turkey as it rebuilt its economy after the crash of 2001.
“We are carefully watching market developments. The economic system is strong,” said Abdullatif Sener, the Minister of State for the Economy and Deputy Prime Minister.
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Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
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