Turkish Central Bank sells off half of US government bonds in 6 months

Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has sold off nearly half of its U.S. government bonds in six months, figures from the CBRT and U.S. Treasury have shown.

According to official records, from November 2017 to June 2018, Turkey's U.S. government bonds gradually decreased from $61.2 billion to $32.6 billion.

The period in which the TCMB started selling off the bonds, late 2017, coincides with the months in which Turkey-U.S. relations got in tatters over U.S. embassy personnel detained for links to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETO).

In addition to U.S.' support to YPG terrorists in Syria and the fact that Washington has done nothing to even evaluate Turkey's request for the extradition of FETO leader Fetullah Gülen, another crisis between the two NATO allies erupted after Turkey arrested American pastor Andrew Brunson over terror links.

The U.S. government bonds in Turkey's possession saw another sharp decline upon the Brunson crisis. In March 2018, the bonds totaled $40.9 billion, and just three months later, the Central Bank slashed those down to $32.6 billion.