Dr. Bahaa Helmy Writes: The Economy of Erdoğan's Group Faces the Specter of Collapse

Visions for the Future, 17/8/2018 The Economy of Erdoğan's Group Faces the Specter of Collapse The efforts and investments of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood and its media machine have failed to rescue the currency of Erdoğan's Turkey, despite intensive campaigns wrapped in religious fatwas urging jihad with money and the conversion of any foreign currency into Turkish lira to confront what they claim is a Zionist-American project aimed at the collapse of the Turkish currency and economy. Erdoğan followed the way, approach and policy of his group, characterized by lying, deception, disinformation, supporting and financing terrorism, and shifting loyalty to himself and his group instead of the homeland. His dreams grew monstrous and his illusions and ambitions swelled towards the possibility of Turkey regaining imperial glory, based on the group's thinking and its philosophy of not recognizing state borders because God's land has no borders. He relied on trusted loyalists and fused with the statelet of Qatar, which has money and embraces nothing but the principles of the Brotherhood and betrayal, as the homeland of his group and a safe haven for them and for the funds that could support him. He roamed far and wide, heading to Africa at one time and to Asia at another, announcing integration with Israel, waged war on the Iraqi, Syrian and Kurdish fronts and entered into numerous alliances, proclaiming the success of his policies and his victories, imagining himself to be the caliph who could sit on the throne of the new Ottoman empire led by the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2017, signs began to appear of the failure of the policies of Erdoğan's group and of its weak performance, especially in politics and the economy, leading to a fall in the value of the currency and the printing of banknotes without backing, at a time when the withdrawal of foreign companies and the flight of investment increased in light of the mounting risks caused by those policies, coinciding with warnings from many businessmen to investors to flee Turkey with their investments, even at the loss of half of them. It seems that the collapse of Turkey's currency came as no surprise internationally, regionally or domestically, as the terrorist Brotherhood hastened to draw up plans to rescue Erdoğan's economy, relying on several pillars, most notably encouraging the purchase of Turkish goods and real estate, boosting domestic tourism, and asking Brotherhood investors to transfer part of their investments to pump into Turkey and to seize every available opportunity, even at the expense of others, to acquire foreign currency from abroad, on the grounds that standing behind the Brotherhood caliph is a sacred duty in the face of the conspiracies being woven against him. However, these measures could neither stop the collapse of the Turkish lira nor produce a scientific vision of how to deal with the crisis and its likely repercussions. This became clear when US President Trump announced his decision to double the tariffs on steel and aluminum from Turkey, causing the Turkish lira to lose 19 to 20% of its value, which poses a major threat to the Turkish economy. It seems that Turkey will announce the release of the American pastor within days, yet the prospect of the collapse of the Turkish currency and economy has become imminent, and signs of the collapse of the investments of Erdoğan's group, and the flight of some of them, are looming on the horizon. Here the question arises: how far will the Turkish people go along with the policies of this group? And will citizens ultimately turn to the armed forces — some of whose members the Turkish president has previously humiliated — for protection, to stand against Erdoğan's group and to preserve the State from the danger of partition? Perhaps the coming days will reveal many facts and answers, all of which point to the growing role of Egypt, its great people and its bright future, God willing.