Speaking to the ruling AK Party lawmakers during a weekly parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed in his address that he will not let Turkish citizens be crushed under interest rates and inflation.
Turkish leader Erdoğan vowed that Turkey will emerge victorious from the economic battle.
Erdoğan also said that Turkey thwarted the speculative financial games from foreign and domestic forces, after the lira rebounded aggressively from record lows in volatile trade this week.
"The programme we announced to bring the exchange rate to a reasonable level within free-market economy rules has achieved its goal," Erdoğan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, as he again defended his push for lower interest rates.
"Some came out yesterday, making statements along the lines of 'now is the perfect time to buy forex, this (currency crash) will continue from where it left off'. Their brains have been watered down," he added.
"The winner here is not only those who have money in the bank or the exporter; this is for the entire country, each and every one of our 84 million citizens," Erdoğan said in the televised address.
New mechanisms to protect the lira unveiled by Turkey this week include a system to compensate lira depositors for foreign currency fluctuations, while encouraging citizens to move towards Turkish lira-based assets.
The fresh measures come in the wake of rising prices and exchange rates as the government pursues its "new economic model," which emphasizes opposition to high-interest rates.
Erdoğan stressed that the new steps will protect lira investments and boost confidence in the Turkish currency.
"We want to ensure that the free market operates by its own rules by eliminating malicious speculators from our country."
The lira/dollar exchange rate dropped to 12.35 by 11.00 a.m. local time (0800GMT) on Wednesday morning, a gain of almost 40% since Monday evening.
Erdoğan once again ruled out the possibility of early elections in Turkey, reiterating that the country will head to the polls as scheduled in June 2023.
"There will be no early elections. Turkey is a country with laws. The elections will be held on the date that has been set," he maintained.
