Turkey

Turkish currency dips as much as 17% in Monday trading on diverging views on interest rates

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Financial markets reacted to the firing of the country’s respected Central Bank chief by running away from the Lira on early Monday trading, and the currency was near its all-time low against the dollar, slicing through key resistance levels.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan holds that high interest rates cause inflation, whereas the Quantity Theory of money that led fired governor Naci Agbal to raise interest rates - a fundamental of inflation control around the world -  holds that a growing money supply, which is increased by lower rates, increases inflation.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Turkey Blocks Wikipedia

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A formal judgement has approved the administrative measure, indicating that a permanent restriction is now in place for all language editions of the online encyclopedia in Turkey.

Some are pointing towards Wikipedia’s depiction of Erdogan as a dictator as a cause:

“Erdoğan detractors have noted that under Erdoğan, more journalists have been incarcerated in Turkey than in any other country, including North Korea. Detractors have also pointed out the fact that the April referendum essentially nullified the traditional legal ‘check’ of parliamentary fiscal review, that parliament had previously held over his executive branch of government. Detractors have claimed that Erdoğan’s unceasing efforts at broadening his executive powers while also minimizing his executive accountability may amount to the ‘fall of Turkish democracy,’ and the ‘birth of a dictator.’

“The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country,” according to independent, non-partisan network monitoring observatory Turkey Blocks.

“SSL errors are issued for https requests, indicating failing to connect to the authentic servers, while the unencrypted addresses now return an nginx http 404 error indicative of filtering.”

Missing South Korean teen training with IS

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Missing South Korean teen expressed desire to join IS on social media
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SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean teenager who disappeared near the Syrian border in Turkey last month has been found to be receiving training from the Islamic State (IS), South Korea’s spy agency said Tuesday.

The head of the National Intelligent Service (NIS), Byung-kee Lee reported during a closed-door parliamentary meeting that the 18-year-old, surnamed Kim, officially became the first Korean to join IS. Lee, however, added that his whereabouts are still unknown.

According to a senior official, although the spy agency sent a message to the Muslim militant group to let him return to his parents, the demand was rejected.

Read more: Missing South Korean teen expressed desire to join IS on social media

Police have concluded that Kim has not gone missing, but attempted to smuggle himself into Syria, based on the examination of his social media and computer records.

Kim’s mother told Yonhap News Agency that she has not heard from him since he left for Turkey in January. “I just hope that my son comes back home safely as soon as possible,” she said.

As more and more people started to follow his Twitter account after the news broke out, the South Korean government expressed worry about the possibility that young people might imitate Kim’s behavior. Fortunately, his Twitter account  has been suspended since Feb. 4, but, at the same time, the deactivation could hamper the investigation of  Kim’s recent and future situation.

Meanwhile, three missing British teenagers are also believed to be heading to Syria via Turkey, and one of the girls indicated her support for IS on her Twitter profile, as Kim did.

Foreign members who join IS will get training from the organization, including military exercises, Islamic doctrines and Arabic language class for more than one month.

Who is Kim?

The 18-year-old was a home-schooled student since he dropped out of middle school due to bullying. Kim was preparing for a qualification exam as a high school graduate when he disappeared with a man in a black car in Kilis near Syrian border with Turkey.

By EJ Monica Kim

Source

Yonhap News

CNN

Herald Media