For years, the Turkish government has stuck to a currency policy that treated the Turkish lira’s value as a matter of national pride. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself explicitly described the lira’s appreciation as a government objective. In ambitious remarks in 2009, he declared: “The Turkish lira will reach such a level that we’ll deal in Turkish lira on international markets. We are taking steps in this direction.” In 2010, he further said: “The depreciation of the Turkish lira is not something I welcome. I believe that a Turkish lira capable of influencing other currencies will serve better the economy.” Ever since, Turkey has sought to maintain the Turkish lira’s dignity.
However, domestic and external factors triggered sharp fluctuations in the last quarter of 2013 through mid-January, plunging the Turkish lira into one of the world’s largest depreciations in that period.