August 16, 2018
Qatar to invest $15 billion in Turkish financial
markets as Ankara-US relations hit new low
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
On Wednesday (August 15) Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held talks in Ankara with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and announced a 15bn investment into the Turkish financial markets and banks.
"We stand by the brothers in Turkey that have stood with the issues of the Muslim world and with Qatar," Sheikh Tamim said in a tweet.
"As part of the important talks that I held in Ankara on Friday with His Excellency President Erdogan, we announced a $15bn deposit package and investment projects in the country, which has a strong and solid productive economy."
Turkey has said it is willing to speak with the US to resolve an ongoing dispute between the two NATO allies. Speaking to a group of foreign ambassadors in Ankara on Wednesday evening, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "Despite everything, we are ready to talk about everything to solve the existing problems as equal partners," he said. "I speak openly but only on one condition - no threatening, no dictating."
Meanwhile, in a reference to the attempted takeover two years ago, Fahrettin Altun, communications director at the Turkish presidency, tweeted that Turkey was "fending off this economic coup attempt".
In a reciprocal move to American restrictions, Turkey announced the doubling of tariffs on US goods including cars, alcohol, tobacco, rice, coal and cosmetics. This following Edogan's call for Turks to boycott US electronic items.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired a new salvo in the growing war of words with the United States on Tuesday (August 14), saying Ankara will boycott all American-made electronic products.
President Erdogan said Turkey would stop procuring US-made iPhones and buy Korean Samsung or Turkish-made Vestel products instead. "If they have the iPhone, there is Samsung elsewhere. We have Vestel."
In an opinion piece published in the New York Times on August 10, President Erdogan said Turkey's partnership with US is in jeopardy, warning Ankara could start looking for new allies.
"Unless the United States starts respecting Turkey's sovereignty and proves that it understands the dangers that our nation faces, our partnership could be in jeopardy," he wrote, adding: "Before it is too late, Washington must give up the misguided notion that our relationship can be asymmetrical and come to terms with the fact that Turkey has alternatives."
Erdogan told a rally in Bayburt on Friday, Turkey had alternatives "from Iran, to Russia, to China and some European countries".
In a tweet on Friday (August 10), President Donald Trump announced the doubling of the tariffs in new punitive actions against Turkey, saying: "Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!"
Turkish Lira
The lira has lost more than 40 percent this year. It hit a record low after Trump announced he authorized higher tariffs on imports from Turkey, imposing duties of 20 percent on aluminium and 50 percent on steel.
Erdogan says a shadowy "interest rate lobby" and Western credit ratings agencies are attempting to bring down Turkey’s economy, appealed to his countrymen's patriotism.
"If there is anyone who has dollars or gold under their pillows, they should go exchange it for liras at our banks. This is a national, domestic battle," he told a rally in Bayburt.
Erdogan said Turkey was the target of an economic war and has made repeated calls on Turks to sell their dollars and euros to shore up the national currency. He also urged manufacturers not to rush to buy dollars. He also accused the US of stabbing Turkey "in the back".
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, visiting Ankara said Tuesday (Aug 14) Moscow backs using national currencies, not the U.S. dollar, in its trade with Turkey.
Lavrov held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu days after the Turkish lira plummeted to an all-time low versus the U.S. dollar, while the Russian rouble lost nearly 10 percent in just several days of August.
“The use of national currencies for mutual trade has for several years been one of the tasks that the presidents of Russia and Turkey had set,” Lavrov told a joint news conference with Cavusoglu.
“Identical processes have been happening in our relations with Iran. Not only with Turkey and Iran, we’re also arranging and already implementing payments in national currencies with the People’s Republic of China,” he said.
“I am confident that the grave abuse of the role of the U.S. dollar as a global reserve currency will result over time in the weakening and demise of its role,” Lavrov said, echoing statements made by President Vladimir Putin.
The Russia -Turkey -Iran “Triple Entente”
Michel Chossudovsky, an award-winning author and Editor of Global Research, wrote (August 10) on the Turkish-US dispute:
“Donald Trump has just sent a dirty message to the president of Turkey. Why? What is the objective behind Trump’s statement? While Turkey is officially a member of NATO as well as a firm ally of the US, President RecepTayyip Erdoğan has been developing “friendly relations” with two of America’s staunchest enemies, namely Iran and Russia.
“US-Turkey military cooperation (including US air force bases in Turkey) dates back to the Cold War. Today Turkey is now sleeping with both Iran and Russia.
“Trump’s response takes the form of both military threats and economic sanctions coupled with financial manipulation of foreign exchange markets directed against Turkey’s Lira. And their currency “slides rapidly downwards against our very strong dollar”, says Trump.
“Turkey has developed an alliance of convenience with Iran. And Iran in turn is now supported by a powerful China-Russia block, which includes military cooperation, strategic pipelines as well extensive trade and investment agreements. But there is more than meets the eye.”
Chossudovsky pointed out that the bilateral US-Israel and US-Turkey alliance coupled with the Israel-Turkey military and intelligence cooperation agreement as well as the Israel-NATO agreement (2003), constitute the foundations of the US-Israel-Turkey “Triple alliance” or what the Brookings Institute calls the US-Turkey- Israel Triangle.
This triangular structure of alliances is dead much to the detriment of Washington, Chossudovsky said adding: “In turn, Turkey wants to acquire Russia’s S-400 air defense system at a cost of 2 billion dollars. In practice, this would mean that Turkey would opt out of the integrated US-NATO air defense system (which also includes the participation of Israel). In practice this also means that Turkey has “unofficially” chosen NATO-Exit.”
Chossudovsky argues that what is unfolding is the building of a new Triple Entente between Turkey, Iran and Russia. At this stage, this Triple Entente goes beyond an “alliance of convenience”. It constitutes a major restructuring of both military and economic alliances.
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
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