![People wearing protective masks shop at a local market, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 22, 2021.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-06/GettyImages-1231645847.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=sUmLeKd2)
Mustafa Sonmez is a Turkish economist and writer. He has worked as an economic commentator and editor for more than 30 years and authored some 30 books on the Turkish economy, media and the Kurdish question. On Twitter: @mustfsnmz
![People wearing protective masks shop at a local market, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 22, 2021.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-06/GettyImages-1231645847.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=sUmLeKd2)
![Sacrificial cows lay on the ground at a livestock market, ahead of the annual Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, Ankara, Aug. 8, 2019.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-06/GettyImages-1160324991.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Mhdc-BuW)
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![A currency exchange office worker counts Turkish Lira banknotes in front of the electronic panel displaying currency exchange rates at an exchange office in Istanbul, on August 6, 2020.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-05/GettyImages-1227935519.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Ob6sroAj)
![Head's of Turkeys Religious Affairs Directorate Ali Erbas holds a press conference in Ankara, Turkey on March 15, 2019.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-05/GettyImages-1130698216.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=0tHlWARj)
![A sign reads "Social distance 1.5m" next to the pool of a hotel on June 19, 2020, at Lara district in Antalya, a popular holiday resort in southern Turkey. The novel coronavirus pandemic has hit Turkey's tourism industry, the backbone of the country's economy.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-04/GettyImages-1221966406.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=W--N70yN)
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![People walk past a currency exchange board on March 22, 2021, in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey's lira plummeted as much as 15% to hit 8.39 per US dollar in the first day of trading after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan replaced central bank governor Naci Agbal, triggering fears of another currency crisis.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2021-03/GettyImages-1308438366.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=qG3APe4w)
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![Customers stand by the desk at a currency exchange office, in Ankara, Turkey on February 5, 2021. - Turkey's central bank is to decide interest rate on February 18, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2021/02/GettyImages-1230983106.jpg/GettyImages-1230983106.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=rwgvUtOO)
Mustafa Sonmez is a Turkish economist and writer. He has worked as an economic commentator and editor for more than 30 years and authored some 30 books on the Turkish economy, media and the Kurdish question. On Twitter: @mustfsnmz