Poverty, Economic Turmoil Shaking Erdoğan's Throne
by Burak Bekdil • December 14, 2021 at 5:00 am
Erdoğan's biggest political rival ahead of the 2023 presidential elections seems to be -- poverty.
The first decade of Erdoğan's rule actually brought relative prosperity to Turks. Per capita GDP rose sharply from $3,688 in 2002 to $11,796 in 2012... Since 2013, however, reckless nepotism, increasing authoritarianism, corruption and economic mismanagement have boosted interest-rates, inflation and unemployment, bringing per capita GDP down to an estimated $7,500.
Nearly half of Turkish workers are minimum wage earners, meaning that millions of families must survive on $233 a month
Unfortunately, since early 2018, the lira has been on a downward slide due to constant geopolitical tensions with the West, widening current account deficits, shrinking foreign currency reserves and mounting public debt.
As the lira crashes to insane historic lows, local salaries are also severely devalued.
Erdoğan is heading fast to becoming the victim of his own miscalculations: a dramatically mismanaged economy and geostrategic challenges that went beyond Turkey's political and military might.
Perhaps these missteps will be the beginning of the end of Erdoğan's ugly populism -- his neo-Ottoman ambitions that have caused major damage to Turkey's economy as well as the country's international isolation.
A punishing economic crisis in 2000-2001, the worst ever in modern Turkish history, pushed millions of Turks below the poverty line. In 2002, Turks went to the ballot box to punish a ruling coalition of mainstream parties and elected as prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. By a simple twist of fate, nearly two decades later, Erdoğan's biggest political rival ahead of the 2023 presidential elections seems to be -- poverty.
The first decade of Erdoğan's rule actually brought relative prosperity to Turks. Per capita GDP rose sharply from $3,688 in 2002 to $11,796 in 2012, boosting his popularity. Since 2013, however, reckless nepotism, increasing authoritarianism, corruption and economic mismanagement have boosted interest-rates, inflation and unemployment, bringing per capita GDP down to an estimated $7,500.
