The Turkish question

It says much for the gap between market perception and popular opinion in Turkey that the Turkish lira sank to a new record low on Monday even as cities erupted in celebration after Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured a victory in the presidential elections. In one of the most hard-fought elections since the Turkish republic was founded almost 100 years ago, Mr Erdogan secured a four percentage point victory in the run-off against secular challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu. He overcame one of Turkey’s worst economic crises in a generation and the mishandling of an earthquake that left over 50,000 people dead. The Turkish strongman, 69, who has established his power by the simple expedient of jailing, exiling, and silencing all Opposition after a failed coup against him in 2016, largely draws his support from the central Anatolian mainland, home to 90 per cent of the population. Poorer, largely rural, and more religiously conservative than those living in the European portion of the c