Anonymous Twitter account rocks Turkish money market
After Fuat Avni, a pseudonymous Twitter account, said the government would take over Turkey's largest Islamic lender, the dollar-to-lira exchange rate jumped to nearly 2.20.
Fuat Avni, a pseudonymous account on Twitter, became a household name in Turkey after the December 2013 graft probe that put the government under a judicial spotlight. It emerged along with two other pseudonymous accounts — Haramzadeler333 and Bascalan — that both leaked audio recordings allegedly revealing the dirty network of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his inner circle. Fuat Avni contented itself with only writing tweets containing insider information.
The Turkish media started to follow these tweets in parallel with Erdogan’s vow, in reaction to the corruption and bribery saga, to root out all followers of US-based Turkish Sunni cleric Fethullah Gulen from state institutions.
There was a general belief in the media that these Twitter accounts were somehow, if not directly, linked to the Gulen movement.
Although there has been plenty of speculation about Fuat Avni's true identity, the tweet sent out from this account on the night of Sept. 8 portrayed Fuat Avni as a government insider. “I have been of two minds for hours now because there are only a few advisers who know about this,” the author tweeted. “I studied the decisions soon to be presented to [the president]. This may reveal my true identity, but the interests of the country come before anything.”
