Turkey: On economic brink?

Hizir Albayrak began work in a tiny children’s store in the Istanbul bazaar 25 years ago, in the same year that future president Recep Tayyip Erdogan took over as mayor of the city.

Today, Hizir oversees a seven-floor shopping mall in the busy Eminonu area, weaving energetically among the latest prams, toys and babywear – one of many success stories from Turkey’s astonishing economic transformation in the past quarter-century.

“I started from zero. Now we sell 295 brands from all over Turkey and around the world,” he says, proudly.

Most of the credit for Turkey’s dizzying growth – its economy now six times larger than it was in the mid-1990s – goes to Erdogan, who oversaw a period of unprecedented political stability and economic growth on his path from mayor to prime minister to president.

But that stability has vanished in recent years amid a spate of terrorist attacks, a failed coup in 2016, a ruthless purge of internal opponents, and deteriorating relations with the US.

The currency lost almost a third of its value against the dollar last year, helping to plunge the economy into recession and fuelling inflation of around 20 per cent.

“Look at this,” cries an exasperated Hizir, grabbing a pack of nappies and buzzing it through the till.

“A week ago, we were selling this at 30 or 35 lira (around $6). Now look – 49 lira!

“In the past, prices would change every few months. Now it’s every week or two. It’s very hard for those on minimum wage, but mothers always make sacrifices for their babies.”

‘We want stability’

As his skullcap indicates, Hizir is a long-time supporter of Erdogan’s Islamic-rooted party, the AKP.

But what he really needs is stability, but instead, Istanbulites face their eighth election in just five years on Sunday – this time because officials ordered a re-run of the March mayoral vote which was narrowly won by the opposition.

Read more...