ISTANBUL - Stating that the AKP impoverished the society to finance its rule, HDP Co-Chair Rıdvan Turan said: "It is not possible for these crises to end until the Kurdish Question is resolved democratically."

 

The economic crisis in the country is deepening in parallel with the Kurdish Question being left unsolved and the war policies. While the entire cost of the war is reflected on society, poverty is also growing due to the bad course of the economy. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair of the Economy and Agriculture Commission Rıdvan Turan evaluated the current economic policies of the government, political preferences and their reflections on society.

 

'ERDOĞAN FINANCED HIS POLITICAL POWER'

 

Stating that 600 billion dollars of hot money entered the country in the 21 years that AKP President Tayyip Erdoğan was in power, Turan said: "This money is not spent on science, technology and production.  Erdoğan uses this money to strengthen the construction capital to finance his own political power and to 'benefit'. Erdogan is trying to create new rules by ignoring international economic norms. In the long run, the Turkish economy is an economy that does not produce added value, does not rely on science and technology, and mostly consists of construction capital."

 

THE POLICIES OF ERDOĞAN CAUSE THE CRISIS

 

Stating that the economic crisis is not independent of international developments, Turan said: "The increasing exchange rate in the country in recent years has two bases. The first is a pandemic and the second is the Russia-Ukraine War and the developments in Syria. In addition to these developments, an economic crisis is inevitable in Turkey due to current policies. The main reason for the crisis was Erdogan's interest-inflation policy. The extremely wrong and unscientific relationship that Erdogan has established between an interest rate and inflation. Ihe conclusion that interest causes inflation, has made the country this way. They said that when interest rates fall, inflation will also decrease, but we saw that inflation did not decrease due to the base effect.”

 

‘TÜRKİYE TURNED INTO A NON-PRODUCTION COUNTRY’

 

Stating that this situation makes Turkey a non-producing country, Turan said:  “All of the agricultural inputs depend on foreign currency. Basic inputs such as diesel and fertilizer depend on foreign currency. If these monetary policy tools are disabled and the exchange rate rises continuously, cost inflation in agriculture is fueled. Imports in agriculture increased tremendously. We can say this for the countryside in both Türkiye and Kurdistan. Intensively, our farmers gave up agricultural production. Foreign debt has increased. When you buy more and more than you sell, this time the current account deficit starts to grow. As a result of this inability, there was a huge budget deficit.”

 

'WAR MAKES THE PEOPLE LOSE'

 

Stating that there was no response to the government's statements that "we will increase welfare", Turan said: "The moves to be made, especially the replacement of the Treasury and Finance Minister, will not overcome the crisis, The solution to the economic, political and social problems is the government's abandonment of the war and conflict policies. The solution of the Kurdish Question. It is essential to solve the Kurdish question, which is the biggest problem and affects all areas, on a democratic basis, The war made all peoples of Turkey lose. It is not possible for these crises to come to an end until the Kurdish Question is resolved in a democratic and peaceful way. A large part of our bread goes to militarism."

 

MA / Ergin Cağlar