After his second-round victory, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces major challenges. His country is in one of the worst economic crises in history. The devastating earthquake in early February destroyed entire cities. Erdogan also has difficult tasks to solve in foreign policy. His largest construction sites at a glance:
Inflation: Horrific cost of living and declining purchasing power – Erdogan’s controversial economic policies have driven much of the population into poverty. Under pressure from the president, the Turkish central bank repeatedly cut its key rate, to the astonishment of financial experts worldwide. Although this stimulated production, it also contributed to the further depreciation of the lira.
Inflation peaked at 85 percent on an annual basis in the autumn, but was still at 40 percent in April. In the past two years, the lira has lost more than half its value – trading at a record low of 20 lira per dollar just before the run-off on Friday. Ankara says it has invested $25 billion (€23.25 billion) in just one month to support the local currency.
Sweden’s NATO entry: Turkey has been blocking Sweden’s admission to NATO for months and is therefore under increasing pressure ahead of the alliance summit in Vilnius in July. The admission of a new member requires the approval of all alliance partners. The reason given by the Turkish government is that Stockholm hosts Kurdish activists that Ankara considers “terrorists”. Erdogan demands their extradition to Turkey.
In May 2022, Sweden and Finland abandoned their decades-long policy of military non-alignment over Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine and applied for NATO membership. Finland is now a member of NATO after Turkey gave the green light at the end of March.
Approaching Syria: Relations between Turkey and Syria are extremely tense due to Turkish support for rebels in northern Syria fighting against the government in Damascus. Erdogan had recently tried – through Russian mediation – to get closer to Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad – but without success. As a condition of a meeting, Assad demanded the withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Syria – where Turkey has also been taking action against Kurdish and jihadist groups since 2016.
Turkey is home to more than 3.4 million Syrian war refugees whom Erdogan now wants to return. In early May, he announced the construction of 200,000 homes in 13 different locations in northern Syria to enable the “voluntary” return of at least a million people.
Reconstruction after the earthquake: The earthquake in southeastern Turkey in early February killed 50,000 people and displaced more than three million people from the region. Since then, many have been living in makeshift tent camps.
Erdogan promised to rebuild 650,000 houses in the earthquake zones as soon as possible. According to the UN and Erdogan, the total cost of damage from the catastrophe is more than $100 billion. At an EU donor conference in Brussels in March, €7 billion was raised for Turkey and neighboring Syria, which was also hit by the earthquake.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
