Only an upgraded democracy can save the Turkish economy

Even his foes admit the talent of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a politician in reaching out to the people and molding public opinion on even controversial issues, an ability that secured him an indisputable leadership since late 2002. 

This success of Erdoğan in navigating his consecutive governments and his own Justice and Development Party (AKP) even in uncharted waters in the last 14 years resulted in his election as the head of the nation in 2014. 

However, in the last days of 2016, the whole nation is now discussing a change in the governance system that would introduce some sort of a "presidential system," which will grant more powers to the president.

Simultaneously, however, Turkey has also been engaged in a major debate on the reasons for the sharp devaluation of the Turkish Lira and on measures on how to stop this worrying trend in the Turkish economy. 
Apart from some populist moves, like calling the people to convert their foreign exchanges into liras or gold, the government is working on a package that includes financial and economic measures. It is our hope that they will include some structural reforms that would bolster the economy and prevent the Turkish Lira from devaluing. It is expected to be announced on Dec. 8 by Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım after he returns from Russia.

Still, there are other things needed to be done by the government to stop the erosion of the lira to avert a major economic crisis. It is of course important to recall that the result of the presidential elections in the United States had an impact on the currencies of many emerging economies, but it hurt the lira harder than others because of additional factors. 

To cite a few of these factors; the prolongation of the...