Termination of the Seduction (Istanbul) Convention and the Dismissal of the Central Bank Governor

News:

"It is decided that the Council of Europe Treaty on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence signed on 11/5/2011 and ratified on 10/2/2012 with the Council of Ministers Decision No 2012/2816 is to be terminated based on Presidential Decree No 9 paragraph 3." “Central Bank Governor Naci Agbal is dismissed within the scope of the additional article 35 of the Decree Law numbered 375 and article 2 of the Presidential Decree numbered 3.” (Anadolu Agency, 20 March 2021)

Comment:

Political developments in Turkey are developing very fast. It is sometimes unpredictable what kind of development will be encountered from evening to morning. However, it is possible to summarize all the developments that have occurred especially in the last year with a few items.

1-  The decision to withdraw from the seduction (Istanbul) Convention. There are two aspects to this issue. Firstly, the fact that Erdogan wants to project the image of “look, I have fulfilled your desires, I think the same way as you” so to speak, because the Muslims in Turkey who are aware towards the issue have intensely reacted to this. In other words, he’s investing in the elections to be held in 2023. Because Erdogan is losing blood due to his actions. Secondly, although Turkey has withdrawn from this seduction convention by the decree published in the Official Gazette, on March 20, 2021, as a result of the adoption of the Turkish translation of this convention, the legalized version is in force. In addition, former AKP Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya stated that they will prepare a new convention under the name of Ankara Convention and made it clear that they have not given up on this seduction convention and will do their best to satisfy their European masters, secular, Kemalist and feminist thinkers within Turkey.

2-  By a decree issued on the same night, the Central Bank Governor Naci Agbal was removed 4 / 5 months later from his post he was appointed to on November 7, 2020. Because since 2016, four governors were replaced. Erdogan dismissed all of these governors on the grounds of interest rates. In September 2018, when Murat Uysal, who was appointed before Naci Agbal, took office, policy interest rates were reduced from 24% to 8.25% between September 2019 and May 2020. However, despite this, he was dismissed again. Because the key issue was not lowering interest rates. On the contrary, it was about responding to the savages running wild in the money-bank and stock market in the system that runs according to the basis of the capitalist system. For this reason, he dismissed Murat Uysal and appointed Naci Agbal in order for him to raise the interest rates. And Naci Agbal raised the interest rates by meeting the demandof the market.

However, whatever happens, the main reason for the rise in interest rates on the one hand and rates of exchange on the other is the capitalist system itself, and the practices based on the greed of Erdogan and those around, have led to these increases and accelerated them. Because while they were meeting the demands of their masters, financial circles on the one hand, they were concerned with filling their own pockets on the other. For this reason, they have built roads, bridges, airports, harbors, etc. based on a model called “Build Operate Transfer” while there is no money. They allowed the companies that would do these works to borrow externally under the guarantee of the state. Accordingly, they increased domestic debts on the one hand and external debts on the other. Only the interests of debts to be paid within 2021 have reached 250 billion TL. They've increased foreign debt to $450-500 billion. And in order to pay these debts,especially the lack of foreign currency inputs allowed financial circles to play on interest and foreign currency and make billions overnight.

In short, Erdogan and his governmentcannot get rid of this vicious circle by neither changing the heads of the Central Bank nor announcing stimulus packages. The only way of getting rid of these troubles is the establishment of the Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) state, that will implement the Islamic rules in all areas of life as well as in areas related to the economy, and remove the bank system with interest, stock market and fiduciary monetary system and put into effect the gold standard.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Muhammet Hanefi YAGMUR