Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a boycott of American electronics, including the products of Apple Inc. after the U.S. imposed sanctions on two Turkish ministers.
This comes in the midst of an ongoing economic crisis in Turkey, with the Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges of Turkey and the Turkish Industry and Business Association calling on the government to cut spending and improve ties with the European Union to ensure “that the situation doesn’t make permanent damage to the real economy.”
The Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges of Turkey and the Turkish Industry and Business Association has said in a joint statement that, “Businesses are determined to provide support for the success of the economy’s government program.”
The President, however, is determined to ward off any economic attack on his country’s economy and has refused to stand down, claiming during a televised remark from Ankara, that, “There is a cost for those who are plotting the operation (against Turkey).
If they’ve got iPhone, there is Samsung on the other side. In our country, there is Venus Vestel.” While the Turkish President is yet to confirm a date for the beginning of the boycott and the manner in which the boycott is to be carried out, it does confirm that the standoff over the fate of an American pastor held in Turkey isn’t going to end soon. With both the U.S. and Turkey being NATO members, the latest threat has also called into question, says Erdogan, decades-old alliances; inciting Turkey to seek allies elsewhere.
While a slide has seen the lira (Turkish currency) lose more than a quarter of its value in less than two weeks; this week has seen a rise in its value. The lira rose 5.1 percent to 6.5530 per dollar by 1:31 p.m. in Istanbul. Addressing the situation, Erdogan has said that Turks gave already started converting foreign exchange into the Turkish lira, failing which shall be tantamount to “surrendering”.
