Turkish Opposition Candidate Promises Credit Card Relief as Runoff Nears End

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the opposition candidate seeking to dethrone President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a tense runoff election, which will conclude this weekend, went into the home stretch promising voters he will issue regulations to ease their credit card debts if he wins.

“Dear citizens, I know you’re trying to support house spending with debts. As soon as I come to power, I will come up with a definitive solution for your personal credit card debts,” Kilicdaroglu said on Thursday.

“I will produce a definitive solution for your credit card debts. The interest of your credit card debt will be completely erased and the principal will be paid in 36 monthly installments,” he pledged.

The opposition candidate said it was necessary for the national treasury to take credit card debt away from banks because of the “economic depression caused by Erdogan.”

Kilicdaroglu said that under his plan, “Hundreds of thousands of our citizens will be saved from being crushed under this burden, they will breathe a sigh of relief, and their homes will not be demolished due to the swamp of debt.”

“Remember, the May 28 election is a referendum to get rid of heavy debts or get stuck in a national debt swamp! Let those who love their homeland come to the ballot box,” he concluded in a message that was transmitted to the cell phones of voters as SMS text.

After sending the text message, Kilicdaroglu posted a video in which he made the same promise to nationalize credit card debt.

The sputtering Turkish economy – which features 44 percent inflation, a currency that lost 80 percent of its value against the dollar over the past five years and a probable recession looming on the horizon – was seen as a drag on Erdogan’s reelection prospects. He surprised many observers by managing to overcome those political headwinds and win the first round of the election but not by enough to avoid a runoff against second-place finisher Kilicdaroglu.

A major factor in Turkey’s malaise is Erdogan’s stubborn refusal to raise interest rates to bring inflation down. Erdogan said he thought cheap credit was essential to jump-start the economy, especially the manufacturing sector. He has vowed to reduce interest rates even further if he wins reelection while increasing government spending on social programs, a formula that skeptics worry could touch off an inflation explosion.

Kilicdaroglu’s credit card pledge hammers Erdogan for creating an economy in which ordinary people are running up credit card debt just to purchase necessities at inflated prices. The opposition candidate did not dwell on the economic side effects of seizing billions in debt from private banks and depriving them of the expected interest revenue.

The Turkish lira hit a record low against the dollar on Friday, while the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves sank to the lowest level since 2002, in part because demand for foreign currency is skyrocketing as Erdogan seems likely to win the runoff election.

Erdogan sought to calm market jitters on Thursday by claiming unnamed Gulf Arab states have poured huge amounts of currency into Turkish banking system, making it “quite strong.” 

“After Sunday’s election, you will see how these leaders will come here and how I will visit them to show gratitude,” he said – a promise some observers interpreted as a threat because Kilicdaroglu would be implicitly unable to manage whatever secret deals Erdogan has cut with rich Arab states and Russia to keep Turkey’s economy afloat for a little bit longer.

Reuters on Thursday noted growing unease within Erdogan’s AKP party over his economic program. Some senior party officials are reportedly hoping they can convince Erdogan to adopt a more conventional economic program after reelection. 

One of those officials told Reuters that Erdogan’s “existing model cannot be sustained” and the Turkish economy could crash completely before the end of the year. Another official predicted Erdogan will be unlikely to change course if he wins on Sunday, especially if his margin of victory is large.

Another hot-button issue in the runoff election is the fate of Turkey’s huge refugee population, most of them from Syria. Erdogan said on Thursday that his government has been building homes on land occupied by the Turkish military and its allies in Syria and that up to a million refugees would soon be invited to return to their home country.

“We have created and are building the infrastructure for the voluntary return of Syrians in Turkey,” he said.

Erdogan said it would not be “humane, conscientious, and Islamic” to return the Syrian refugees “by using force,” a jab at Kilicdaroglu’s pledge to deport all Syrians within two years, accompanied by a promise to secure their safety and build homes for them with European Union assistance.

Kilicdaroglu has been trying to outflank Erdogan on the refugee issue. 

“You knowingly brought more than 10 million refugees to this country,” he accused Erdogan last week, citing a figure about three times as high as the best estimate of refugees in Turkey. He said Erdogan was planning to admit even more refugees, possibly increasing their number to 30 million. 

“I am announcing it here – as soon as I come to power, I will send all refugees home. Period,” Kilicdaroglu said.

Early polls in the runoff heavily favored Erdogan to win, but an Al-Monitor/Premise poll released on Thursday found the race a statistical tie: Erdogan 40 percent, Kilicdaroglu 39 percent, with a three-point margin of error and a whopping 15 percent “undecided.”

Turkey’s election commission, the YSK, said on Friday that early and absentee voting was even heavier in the runoff than it was in the first election. More than 1.85 million Turkish expatriates have voted already, and YSK expects the total to exceed two million by the time absentee balloting closes. 

“Overseas votes could prove decisive as they could contribute up to half a percentage point in the presidential polls and potentially sway the results,” Hurriyet Daily News observed.