Analysts had already begun worrying months ago that political authoritarianism was damaging Turkey’s already battered economy, putting the country at risk of what The Tower described in September as “a downward spiral where political authoritarianism fuels economic instability, and economic instability fuels more political protests that are put down through authoritarian measures.”

Bloomberg published an editorial worrying that the heavy-handed policies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodgan would undermine the growth of a new and necessary entrepreneurial class, even as the government targeted both working-class and professional unions allegedly linked to anti-government protests.

Violence and sporadic protests have since then continued. Earlier this week saw the mobilization of an estimated 2000 people to march against the handling of a case involving a policeman accused of killing a demonstrator. Social media lit up with accusations that the government was protecting police officer.

Now Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) is moving against the country’s cadre of economic technocrats in general, and especially those who were linked to this summer’s anti-government protests. Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News described the moves under the headline “The Great Purge in Turkish economic policymaking”:

Another important development has been Gezi. Supporting the protests seems to have led to being blacklisted. Scores of people in the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund were abruptly dismissed during the summer. The purge has even hit the Central Bank, the ivy tower of economic policymaking.

Connected economists have been brought to top positions, and deserving candidates laid off, at the Bank for the past several years – a friend quit after he saw no prospects for advancement; he is now happily married and on a fast-track career path at the IMF. Several employees were recently charged with things like giving clandestine information to prostitutes (or transvestites in the case of a female worker) or using drugs. All were Gezi supporters… A comparable purge is probably going on in the rest of the bureaucracy as well. I only know the economic policymaking part, which could as well be just the tip of the iceberg.

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