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Reflections from our correspondents on the ground in the Turkish capital.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Markets search in vain for logic as Turkey cuts rates
September 23, 2021
All but one of 23 surveyed economists said central bank wouldn’t do it, but it did it. Baffling ‘Erdoganomics’ pulling strings in the background. Hyperinflation may lurk around corner.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Paris Agreement ratification becomes a no-brainer for Erdogan
September 22, 2021
President faces an election by 2023 and millions of Turkish teenagers who will vote for the first time know their country has just been through a summer of climate change hell.
ISTANBUL BLOG: ‘Core’ blimey guvnor
September 12, 2021
Turkey’s monetary policy chaos has deepened following a strange presentation by the central bank chief. Analysts are scrambling to update their expectations.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Turkey’s official inflation – nothing if not a head-scratcher
September 5, 2021
Erdogan ‘gets it wrong’ again. Statistical authority says inflation in August moved up to 19.25%. Work of academics implies rate is actually 49%.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Latest monumental folly from Erdogan to deliver the ‘Turkish Pentagon’
September 2, 2021
Flat broke Turks will be thrilled to hear of mammoth defence HQ that will “instill fear in enemies and trust in allies”.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Revisiting jihadism and why it’s ‘next stop, China’
August 25, 2021
US exit from Afghanistan is brewing up a Salafi storm in which Turkey’s Syria militants could play a role.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Turkey ups growth forecasts to more than 8%
August 21, 2021
The Turkish authorities' predictions for growth are becoming more and more bullish and unbelievable.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Erdogan’s field is economics. All bets on Turkish inflation are off
August 18, 2021
It may have been irresistible market realities that prevented the central bank from fulfilling the president’s idiosyncratic demands for summer rate cuts. But will the dam break?
ISTANBUL BLOG: Nato training for Afghans in Turkey gives off a “Syria” odour
August 14, 2021
Fresh wave of migrants from Afghanistan crossing Turkish border will, meanwhile, only add grist to the mill of Europe’s populists.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Reduced to tossing bags of tea, Erdogan’s having a bad wildfire crisis
August 2, 2021
Turks stunned to find country has no firefighting planes. Presidential aide appears tone deaf as he gripes #HelpTurkey campaign is meant to make the state look “incapable”.
ISTANBUL BLOG: The political killing of Deniz Poyraz, a very Turkish tragedy
July 1, 2021
MP warns brutal murder should not be seen as a hate crime, but as part of a government crackdown.
ISTANBUL BLOG: Cocaine lords and the "Turkey Connection"
June 29, 2021
Fugitive mafioso Sedat Peker has lifted the lid on major drug trafficking. There are peculiar goings-on, with officials shifting uncomfortably in the spotlight.
