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Last week concerns from investors were eased by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey’s surprise decision to increase its key interest rate from 17.5 to 24 percent, in a bid to control rocketing inflation. This was done in defiance of increasingly Erdogan, who wants lower rates to encourage investment and recently reiterated his opposition to them going up. And today fresh instability emerged after Erdogan called on authorities to look into members of the opposition who serve on the board of Isbank. The lira had dropped in comparison to the dollar, from 6.4 at midnight to 6.2 by late morning.

Mr Erdogan and his aides had previously called for greater scrutiny of the main opposition Republican People's Party over its 28 percent stake in Isbank, bequeathed to the party by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic. While the party does not receive dividends from the stake - those go to cultural associations, as stipulated by Ataturk's will - party members do have seats on the bank's board. Mr Erdogan said: ”It owns 28 percent of Isbank shares. It can't get money from there but it has four board members. What do these four members do? This must be looked into.” Isbank shares fell 3.6 percent to 3.99 lira this morning. The bank responded by saying it was too important to be made a subject of political debate, adding that trust in banks needed to be preserved for the sake of the national economy.

Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan