On the last Wednesday, November 24, protests in the capital of Turkey – Istanbul – law enforcement officers detained 43 people. Citizens went to a demonstration against the economic policy of the authorities, which led to a fall in the exchange rate of the national currency. This is reported by the local TV channel T24.
The procession took place in the Kadikoy region. Those gathered demanded the resignation of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports Associated Press…
According to the agency, the security forces used shields to drive back the crowd, and then detained dozens of people.
‼ ️ Right now 11/24/2021 🇹🇷 Turkey. Istanbul was overwhelmed by massive protests. People are unhappy with the sharp drop in the national currency. Additional army and police forces have been deployed to the capital.#Turkey pic.twitter.com/3q6wKtQA1v
– Zilla (@ Zilla57826895) November 24, 2021
Earlier on Wednesday, Turkey’s General Directorate of Security identified 271 social media accounts whose owners were spreading calls to the public to protest amid a sharp depreciation of the national currency. Criminal cases were opened against them. The police announced their intention to take tough measures against violators.
A day earlier, spontaneous protests took place in a number of Turkish cities after the collapse of the lira exchange rate. It was noted that in Istanbul and Ankara, protesters chanted the slogan: “Government to resign”, some held banners demanding to remove the ruling Justice and Development Party from power.
Former Turkish parliament member Aykan Erdemir said that the insistence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his economic policy could aggravate the situation with the national currency.
In his opinion, the direct result of this was the massive impoverishment of tens of millions of Turkish citizens, as basic consumer goods are now out of their reach.
Since the beginning of 2021, the Turkish currency has depreciated by 70%. This was one of the largest drops in its value in recent years.
On November 23, the collapse of the Turkish lira was 18%, the currency fell from 11.37 to 13.21 lira per dollar. As financial analyst Arda Tunca said on the same day, such a drop in the Turkish national currency in 24 hours was a record over the past 20 years.
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