„Over the past few years, warnings of coming crises have fallen on deaf ears. No wonder, since our president does not take any criticism into consideration. Rather, he is surrounded by self-proclaimed economic advisers who believe in self-sufficiency and independence in the name of a ‚nationalist economy.‘ Not surprisingly, one of his top advisers hails from an ultra-nationalist background, whereas another used to be a Maoist in his youth. The president himself has an Islamist-nationalist background, even though he converted to neoliberal economic politics at the point when he thought it would help his aspirations to obtain more power and wealth. (…) Under those circumstances, failures and crises in the economy are tried to be compensated by political nationalism and authoritarianism. In fact, it is such a vicious cycle, that as authoritarian and nationalist politics lead to economic decline, economic decline further fosters the politics in that direction. (…)
For some time, opponents of the ruling party have deluded themselves as usual, expecting economic crises to weaken the government. It never occurred to them that economic crises can easily be manipulated by failed politicians to enforce authoritarian nationalist/religious politics, especially when those politicians’ minds are defined more by nationalism and Islamism than the belief in democratic politics. Now Turkey is at that point. The deepening economic crises have only led to louder condemnation from the West, while the government has put the blame on internal and external enemies, legitimizing authoritarianism.“ (Nuray Mert: „Turkey’s economic crises“)