Erdoğan blasts Western media over negative economy coverage

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday criticised Western media coverage of the country's economy after a Financial Times report questioned the central bank's management of foreign currency reserves.

"Whatever you do, whatever headlines you run, Turkey stands tall and will continue on its way, growing stronger. As we point to double standards over issues in the fight against terrorism and refugees, the number of news reports against us rises," Erdoğan said in a statement.

The Financial Times on Wednesday reported that the central bank had bolstered its foreign reserves with short-term lending in what analysts worried was a way to overstate its buffer against any new lira crisis.

"Unfortunately, some quarters in the West, using all their media tools, are trying to say our economy has collapsed," Erdoğan told a business forum.
In particular, Erdoğan blasted the Turkey coverage of The Financial Times, calling attention to the policy of Britain -- where the paper is based -- on refugees.
"How many refugees does your country host? Go ahead and write a story on that too," he said.

"Let them write what they want, write the headlines they want. The Financial Times writes some things. But the situation in my country is clear," Erdoğan concluded.

The Financial Times story said it had calculated Turkey's foreign reserves were much lower than the $28.1 billion officially reported in April if the short-term borrowing was stripped out of the calculation.

In a response to the FT, the central bank acknowledged short-term operations may impact reserve figures, though it said its accounting was in compliance with international standards.