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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.
A Twitter logo on an iPad display is pictured next to a Turkish flag in this photo illustration taken in Istanbul March 21, 2014. Turkey's courts have blocked access to Twitter a little over a week before elections as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan battles a corruption scandal that has seen social media awash with alleged evidence of government wrongdoing. The ban came hours after a defiant Erdogan, on the campaign trail ahead of key March 30 local elections, vowed to "wipe out" Twitter and said he did not c

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.

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