The EU offered Recep Tayyip Erdogan $6bn in 2015 to look after refugees. He will likely return for additional funding
of February, when Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced he would open his country’s borders with Greece to migrants and refugees, Salih, an Afghan living in Istanbul, heeded the call, as did thousands of others. But the Greek side of the border was closed. For ten days, Salih waited and slept rough near the main crossing. Eventually, Turkish police drove him and a few others to a river separating the two countries and ordered the group to cross by boat, threatening them with batons.
Mr Erdogan would like to prevent mass loss of life without risking economic collapse. But he may end up with both. His government has suspended all international flights, closed schools, cancelled communal prayers at mosques, and ordered people above 65 and below 20 to remain at home. But it has also kept the economy running, albeit in low gear.
The economy, which rebounded late last year, is reeling again. Exports in March were down by 18% compared with the same period in 2019. Tourism, which generated $35bn last year, is bracing for a lost summer. The central bank, having burned through billions of dollars to prop up the Turkish lira, has nearly run out of foreign reserves. The currency is sliding, placing yet more pressure on companies with foreign-currency debt.
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