The Turkish lira plunged to an all-time low against the dollar on Wednesday, after police raided the home of İstanbul’s powerful opposition mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, and detained him, Agence France-Presse reported.
The currency was trading at 39 lira to the dollar after the mayor, a key opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was detained over a corruption probe, a move denounced by his opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) as a “coup.”
The Turkish lira lost more than 10 percent of its value and trading on Turkey’s stock exchange, Borsa Istanbul, had to be temporarily suspended due to a rapid stock fall of 6.87 percent following the mayor’s detention along with more than 100 others.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek issued a statement on X following the record increase in exchange rates, saying necessary measures were being taken to ensure the healthy functioning of the markets.
“The economic program we are implementing continues with determination,” he said in an apparent bid to ease concerns.
A popular and powerful figure within the CHP, İmamoğlu is President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival and his detention came days before he was to be named the party’s candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
Widely seen as the strongest candidate to challenge Erdoğan, İmamoğlu’s career has been overshadowed by a string of what critics say are politically motivated legal cases.
The police raid occurred just hours after İstanbul University revoked his degree, amid claims it was falsely obtained.