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Erdogan “is ​getting​ ready for a charm offensive toward President-elect Joe Biden”​ in the eyes of Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“He’ll become whatever Biden wants him to be. He’s getting ready for that pivot,” he added following efforts by Erdogan to convince audiences that he has put a new economic team in place that will be more in line with the expectations of foreign investors and is working on significant reforms that will improve the judiciary and human rights situation in Turkey.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo conducted a regional tour that included Turkey, but, almost certainly to Ankara’s dismay, he could not meet Erdogan or other top Turkish officials. The US has claimed that that’s because of scheduling conflicts and because Pompeo’s focus is on religious issues.
2.5​ ​Lira’s destiny...
Renowned pundits at financial institutions and market-maker news services are ​regaling​ us with their latest wisdom as to Erdogan’s monetary and foreign policy manoeuvres.
It’s all in the service of explaining the relentless collapse of the Turkish lira (TRY). But let’s dig out some realities that really shouldn’t be missed as carnage is heaped upon carnage (some might describe it as Lira Crisis II following on from August 2018’s Lira Crisis I but the initial crisis never really ended, this is more a rolling crisis that’s had several waves).
Warnings as to killing the convertibility of the lira and, consequently, liquidity in the FX-to-TRY markets have been sounded since March 2019 when the
17​ TURKEY Country Report​ December 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com