Turkey is in an unprecedented financial crisis, wilting under hyper-inflation reckoned at 142%, five times higher than other countries. Food prices are rocketing with the Ukraine crisis adding to challenges. A series of policy mistakes and ambitious expansionary projects against the advice of experts, as well as revolving doors at the central bank with four chiefs in three years, have piled on the misery.
The Foreign Minister is pushing hard for EU membership talks to make progress but Turkey still needs to reverse repression of media, civil society and academia and meet five benchmarks – on corruption, EU standards on personal data legislation, an agreement with Europol, cooperate with Member States on criminal matters, and revise terrorism legislation.
On the Turkey country chart, 20 October 1923 8.30pm Ankara, the next two years look discouraging with a downbeat Solar Arc Saturn square Sun in 2023 and a deprived/stuck Solar Arc Pluto conjunct Saturn Mercury in 2024. If the start time is accurate tr Pluto then moves into the 8th financial house from 2024 for fifteen years ahead which can be debt-ridden and trapped economically. It need not be a total calamity but generally isn’t too upbeat.
Recep Erdogan’s 4th Term chart, 9 July 2018 4.30pm never looked inspiring on the financial front with an 8th house Sun opposition a 2nd house Pluto and a 2nd house Saturn. The next three years will be frustrated, blocked, disappointing and high-risk in 2023/24 in particular. But there’s no strong indication of a major change in terms of toppling the head. Despite the economic woes Erdogan still remains popular.
His own chart looks suspiciously upbeat this year and next, perhaps explained by him having planets in all three water signs including a Pisces, Sun, Mercury, Venus giving him an ability to live in his own self-created bubble and avoid facing hard truths.
Though the upcoming Solar Eclipse in Taurus late this month will oppose his Saturn bring a cold dose of reality and responsibility. He will have to face a few mistakes and will be brought further down to earth with a bump from mid 2023 onwards.
See previous post: MARCH 23 2021
If Turkey ever had any hopes of joining the EU then today’s sentence of life imprisonment handed down to businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala (for alleged involvement in the 2016 ‘coup’) will have put paid to that. The Council of Europe had already called on Turkey to release him based on a lack of evidence. Turkey has to decide what it wants to be and stop pretending to itself that it can have it both ways.
Thank you for this reading Marjorie. Erdogan might be looking upbeat in the coming days because many Russian professionals as well as the Russian oligarchs are pouring into Turkey due to the war in Ukraine. Their money is crucial for him to overcome the financial issues the country is currently facing, even at the surface level. However, I do not think his popularity is what it used to be. His party lost mayor elections in all three big cities, after 20+years of ruling them.