So-called autocrat finds himself in economic bind

I am not calling Supreme Leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan an autocrat. I love him as much as any Turk, like I’d love (a) Big Brother. Besides, if slandered him, I could end up in Silivri - not to mention a visit from the taxman to my newspaper.

However, two credit rating agencies, whose links to the Jewish interest rate lobby have since been revealed by ministers and pro-government newspapers, dared to do so last week. In a short note published on Aug. 11, Fitch mentioned Erdoğan’s “perceived authoritarian tendencies.” Then, on Aug. 15, Moody’s wrote about an “autocratic wing” of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “led by president-elect Erdoğan.”

Strong AKP election victories used to raise investor confidence and cause markets to rally, but as economist İbrahim Aksoy noted, “foreign investors’ perception of political stability is changing.” Fitch underlined that “political continuity does not eliminate political and social unrest, which has been elevated since last year’s Gezi Park protests and corruption scandal.” Moody’s expects “the evolution of intra-AKP dynamics [to] extend the climate of political tension and uncertainty that has prevailed since mid-2013.”

Last week’s economic statistics showed that this changing perception is the least of Erdoğan’s worries. Preliminary data released by business channel CNBC-e on Aug. 14 revealed that consumer confidence indices plunged in August after having slightly recovered in July - following another sharp fall in June. The indices join a bunch of other leading indicators that are foretelling an increasingly weakening economy, which has now spilled over to the labor...