Anonymous Hackers Warn Turkey Government: 'Expect Us'

As the reelection of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put Turkey's economy in a more dire situation, an online hacking collective warned the country's government of reprisals.

In a video shared on Twitter, the international hacking group Anonymous sent a warning to Erdogan's government while listing various alleged state-sponsored cases of abuse in Turkey and claiming that the country's recently-concluded presidential election was mired in fraud.

"Greetings, Turkey. We are Anonymous. Turkey is a country where the police are on the side of the strong, not the side of the people. Police are on the side of the people who are appointed by the government, not the students who entered the school with their hard work," said the narrator in the video uploaded by the Twitter account @CodinGhost and retweeted by Anonymous' official Twitter account.

The narrator noted the alleged human rights abuses against women and students and the destruction of Turkey's natural resources.

"Imagine a country where the government does not protect women [and] also rejects the law that protects them. A country the election results of which are predetermined. The votes you used are unimportant," they added.

The hacking collective called on Turkish people to stand up and join them, saying, "People should not be afraid of the governments; governments should be afraid of the people."

"It's time to be united. We are Anonymous. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us, Turkey," the narrator said.

After Erdogan narrowly secured another term during Turkey's consequential election last month, Turkey's currency plunged to record lows against the U.S. dollar last week, ABC News reported. The Turkish lira has weakened by around 20% against the dollar since the start of 2023.

According to the outlet, Turkey has been plagued by a currency crisis and out-of-control inflation since 2021.

Economists blamed Turkey's economic woes on Erdogan's unorthodox belief that raising interest rates would lead to higher inflation.

The Turkish president pressured the country's central bank to lower interest rates from 19% in 2021 to the current rate of 8.5%.

However, Erdogan's move resulted in skyrocketing inflation, which hit a staggering 85% last year before easing to 39.5% last month.

Economists also noted that the Turkish government intervened in the markets to prop up the local currency ahead of the presidential elections, further depleting Turkey's foreign currency reserves.

According to Ozlem Derici Sengul, an economist at the Istanbul Spinn Consultancy, the Turkish central bank's "excessive interventions" prevented the lira from skyrocketing in recent weeks or months.

To stabilize the battered economy, Erdogan announced the appointment of Mehmet Simsek as Turkey's finance and treasury minister.

Simsek is a former Merrill Lynch banker who had previously served as the country's finance minister and deputy prime minister.

The Turkish leader also appointed Hafize Gaye Erkan, a former co-chief executive of the U.S.-based First Republic Bank, to lead Turkey's central bank, becoming the country's first woman central bank governor.

Despite the new appointments, Sengul claimed the "markets are not convinced yet" of Erdogan's return to traditional policies. She added it is still unclear whether the Turkish president would give Erkan and Simsek free rein in handling the economy.