Turks angry over economic, political crisis

The Turkish currency, the lira, continued its sharp fall against the dollar as government and International Monetary Fund officials met in Ankara.

The lira has lost about forty per cent of its value against the dollar since Thursday, when the government abandoned currency controls in a bid to resolve an economic crisis.

It erupted when a row between the prime minister, Bulent Ecevit, and President Sezer over anti-corruption moves prompted fears of political instability, and led international investors to pull out of Turkey.

Steep price rises are now expected; the sudden devaluation of the currency has wiped out savings and cut the value of people's wages. The BBC Ankara correspondent says there's widespread popular anger that fourteen months of economic austerity seem to have been for nothing.

Our correspondent says Turkey's deeply troubled banking system is at centre of the crisis --under scrutiny over allegations of being plundered by politicians for years, many banks will now have great trouble servicing their foreign currency debts.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service