Editorial Staff

Turkey has become the world's most expensive borrower in local currency, agreeing to pay interest rates exceeding 41% during back-to-back domestic bond auctions this week.

Former Treasury Undersecretary and prominent economist Mahfi Eğilmez calculated that the fair value of the US dollar should be 65 liras based on the Big Mac Index, far above the market exchange rate of 47.50 liras and warned that the holding the exchange rate below its fair value inflates the country's GDP and per capita income figures on paper without making Turks any richer.

A new legislative proposal submitted by ruling party AKP lawmakers aims to allow foreign online travel agencies, including Booking.com, to return to the Turkish market under a structured legal framework after nearly nine years of suspension.

The Turkish government has temporarily eliminated the special consumption tax on diesel fuel for the remainder of August in an effort to curb inflation. Pump prices fell by more than 13 percent a day after the government’s decision on Aug. 12.

The central bank has raised its year-end inflation forecast for 2026 to 28 percent from 26 percent.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan traveled to Libya on Aug. 11 and 12, visiting both Tripoli and Benghazi, in what appears to be the first time a Turkish foreign minister has made a simultaneous visit to meet competing sides in the Libyan conflict.

Two parties that once stood as rivals, both claiming the legacy of Necmettin Erbakan — the founding leader of political Islam in Turkey under the name of National View— are continuing merger talks.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to welcome new members into the AKP at the party's 25th anniversary event in Ankara on Aug. 14, with two sitting deputies from the İYİ Party set to join.

Police forcibly intervened on Aug. 13 against striking miners outside the Energy Ministry in Ankara, detaining union leaders and multiple workers on the fourth day of their protest over unpaid wages.

The first cooperation between members of the CHP and the People's Alliance took place in Ankara's Etimesgut municipal elections.