Why is the lira falling? Beginning in 2013, the lira to dollar exchange rate began a slow decline, which economist Emre Alkin says was the starting point of the lira’s devaluation. Since 2013, Turkey has been embroiled in “political storms”, says Murat Okcu, a professor of economics and administrative sciences at Suleyman Demirel University. “In addition to the Gezi events [in 2013] and major political storms, such as [the] July 15 [coup attempt], the economic crises that emerged with the 2018-dollar rate attacks and the pandemic are the political and economic storms which marked Turkey’s last 10 years,” Okcu said. “These events unearthed the cracks in society and caused great shocks.” Alkin, the rector of Istanbul Topkapi University, says diplomatic mistakes or internal politics were automatically reflected in the stock market and interest rate reactions. In what was called a “historical peak”, the lira’s devaluation accelerated in 2021 when it went beyond single-digit figures and reached a value of 10 in the lira-dollar rate. Experts Al Jazeera spoke to say the lira’s continuing devaluation was a predictable result of suppressed inflation prior to the elections, which resulted from the central bank stabilizing exchange rates by selling foreign exchange reserves in return for the lire. “[After the elections], we can see that [the central bank] is not [interfering] in the market as much,” Alkin said, leading to the lira’s continued devaluation.