Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused other countries on Sunday of mounting an “operation” to bring down the Turkish economy, but gave no indication he would meet investors’ demands for an emergency plan to prop up the plunging lira.
Despite the danger of a deepening financial crisis, the Turkish president struck a defiant tone. He insisted Turkey would not back down after a bruising week that saw the nation’s currency lose a fifth of its value against the dollar on the back of an escalating dispute with US president Donald Trump and concerns about the management of the Turkish economy.
“What is the cause of this storm?” he asked a gathering of ruling party officials in the Black Sea city of Trabzon. “There is no economic reason . . . It’s an operation against Turkey.”