The failed attempted coup on July 15 has cost the Turkish economy 300 billion Turkish Liras (around $100 billion), according to initial calculations, Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci has said.
This amount may however increase when more detailed calculations are made, he added, Anadolu Agency reported.
“When we consider all those warplanes, helicopters, weapons, bombs and buildings, the cost is 300 billion liras at minimum according to our prior calculations. The exact cost may likely increase when the detailed calculations are made.
“There will also be various costs in the medium-term. For instance, many orders from abroad have been canceled. Many foreigners have halted their Turkey visits. The coup plotters have unfortunately created a Turkey image as if it were a third world country. People who see tanks in the streets and the parliament bombed will not come to Turkey. All of these create costs in the medium-term,” Tufenkci said in a meeting with a group of journalists in Ankara.
Difficult Exam
He also noted that the markets had passed this difficult exam successfully. “We must thank the people. If such a coup was attempted in many other countries, the markets would probably be closed down for a week at least. Turkey experienced the coup attempt on Friday (July 15), but all the banks, bourses, commodity markets and commerce centers opened next Monday (July 18).
“We did not see any huge rise in the rates. The main stock exchange declined in a limited manner. We do not see any need to revise our growth or export figures in this vein. Our people have showed a quite robust standing against the coup attempt. Over $10 billion was converted into liras and deposited into banks. This enabled the dollar to show a manageable trend. Foreigners did not make huge exits from our markets,” he added.
Tufenkci reminded that some tourism reservations were still needed to be canceled, as the government suspended the annual leave of more than three million civil servants nationwide, according to a government order.
“We ask for understanding and patience from tourism companies and citizens. We are quite aware of the fact that the sector is struggling, but we expect a noble standing in these difficult times, just as our people do. The tourism sector has already been battered due to terror attacks, the Russian crisis and now the attempted coup,” he said, adding that some one million reservations were canceled so far due to the cancelations in annual leaves.
