Turkey: Opposition critical of C.Bank head's removal

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's main opposition leader on Tuesday slammed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the recent removal of the country's Central Bank head.

"Erdogan was backed into a corner. The interest rates [in the country] rose. What would he do?” Kemal Kilicdaroglu told his Republican People's Party's (CHP) parliamentary group on Tuesday.

Erdogan wanted to blame his dilemma on a “bureaucrat,” claimed Kilicdaroglu.

He said Murat Cetinkaya, the former Central Bank head, was not responsible for the country’s recent economic turbulence.

"There was no development plan [for Turkey] ...The [economic] targets that you set could not be met," he added.

Cetinkaya was dismissed from his post as Central Bank governor early Saturday via presidential decree, to be replaced by his deputy Murat Uysal.

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Monday defended the move, saying it “was within the rights entitled to the president."

Kilicdaroglu claimed that Erdogan removed Cetinkaya "because he didn’t cut interest rates."

Kilicdaroglu said Turkey’s default interest rate has risen 78% over the last 10 months.

"You removed the Central Bank head as he didn’t cut interest rates. But you increased the default interest 78%," he added.

In July, the Central Bank announced it held the policy rate -- one-week repo auction rate -- constant at 24%.

In 2018, over the course of nine Central Bank Monetary Policy Committee meetings, interest rates tripled from 8% to 24%.