No. of Recommendations: 6
We have pretty much finalized plans to fly to Türkiye, rent a car and spend a month driving around the country. We have been to the country a number of times in the past, but this will be our most extensive/intensive stay. We had originally planned this trip for 2016, but the political tree began shaking and we canceled out. Then there was their entry into the Syrian War, then came COVID and, long story made short, this is our redux.
When we first visited Türkiye, in 1998, the Turkish Lira had more 'zeros' than the Italian Lira. In 2005, the currency was revalued so that one new Turkish lira was worth one million of the old.
The monthly inflation rate in Türkiye reached 85.51 percent in October 2022. While the rate has slowed somewhat, the prices (in Lira) during 2023 are roughly ten times what they were in 2016.
Tourist attraction admission fees are being used to pour money back into government coffers. The 15-day Museum Pass was 1,000 lira ($37) in February 1023 and 3,500 lira ($129) in August 2023. It is now the norm for hotels to quote future prices in US Dollars or Euros, rather than Turkish Lira.
Before last year's correction, the fee for passing through the straits was last reviewed in 1983. Since the signing of the Montreux Convention in 1936, which regulates navigation in the Straits Zone, the basis for calculating the amount of fees is the gold franc. Until 2022, the value of the franc was fixed, but last autumn it was decided to review the value of the gold franc every year at the end of June.
From July 2023, Turkiye will increase the fee for the passage of ships through the Bosporus and Dardanelles by 8.3% compared to the previous rate ' up to $4.42 per ton of cargo. Aydinlik reports about it with the reference to the Main Directorate of Maritime Affairs of the Turkish Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
According to the department's forecasts, thanks to the toll increase, the country's income from crossing the straits, which currently amounts to $160-170 million, will increase to $900 million this year.
Geographically, Turkey sits at one of the crossroads of the world's logistical system. In a parallel context, Turkey's current land mass (Anatolia and a bit in Europe) is constructed by a residual mosaic of the demographics of it origin and empire. Without going into vast detail, suffice it to say that these are both its blessing and its curse.
The realities of Turkey's nationalistic politics as well as its insistence on being independent from the pressures of the US, such as purchasing a Russian air-defense system, rather than a US one, has caused it to be on the pointy end of some types of trade sanctions. While it keeps failing to achieve EU membership in the face of Greek resistance to the idea, it has leveraged its membership in NATO to block Swedish and Finn membership until it received concessions. Its entry into the Syrian Civil war further strained relations with the US as the US supported the Kurdish efforts against the Assad regime and while Turkey also moved against the Assad regime, they insisted on attacking the Kurds as well. Turkey is not an "automatic" ally of the US or even the EU, but is at the fulcrum point between the West and Russia and tries to gain from both parties at every opportunity.
The Russo-Ukraine war has negatively impacted revenue from Black Sea shipping through the Dardanelles and, for a time, Turkey was able to negotiate a grain deal which, not only allowed both countries to feed poor nations and receive hard currency in return, but also help Turkey by the tolls it collected. The breakdown of the deal has also impacted the Turkish economy.
Turkey not only shares the Black Sea with countries of both the Balkan and Caucasus Peninsulas, but also Syria, Iraq and Iran - all former portions of their empire. This places their interests squarely in the Middle East. The recent reproachment between the Saudis and Israel coupled with Israel's strong relationship with Egypt juxta positioned against Iran and its allies (especially considering the correlation of Israeli and Turkish interests in Syria) begs Turkish attention.
In any case, while the causes of Turkish inflation are many, the dangers caused by Turkish financial stress can further disrupt the, already frayed, fabric of world peace.
Jeff
