Turkey encourages joy of lira

Ecevit is trying to persuade his countrymen that the lira is better than foreign currency

ANKARA, Turkey -- A campaign has been launched to restore national pride in the Turkish lira which has plummeted in value this year.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has given official support to the Ankara Chamber of Commerce initiative intended to restore prestige to the currency.

The Turkish lira has fallen so far it is now worth about 1.5 million to the U.S. dollar after a financial crisis sparked by a row between Ecevit and the country’s president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

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The lira was traded at 70 to the dollar in 1980, and has fallen 50 percent against the U.S. unit since it was set free to float amid crisis in late February.

Ecevit told reporters on Monday: “Rescuing Turkey, before anything else, requires winning respect for our money.”

The campaign includes a number of slogans such as "National money is national honour" and "Happy is he who uses Turkish lira."

Organisers hope the campaign will cut the drift of Turks holding assets in other currencies -- a move which has hit the local economy and worsened the fall in the lira’s value, the Reuters news agency reported.

The dollar is more attractive for investors as it is seen as a safer currency.

Research by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter says the share of foreign currency deposits rose to 48.2 percent of total deposits at the end of May from 39.2 percent at the end of last year.

Firms with debts in hard currency have been particularly hard hit as they try to pay interest with a weakening lira.

Many businessmen complain that lira volatility makes it impossible for them to plan ahead.

One small leftist party has begun a campaign demanding that the U.S. dollar be outlawed in Turkey.

Earlier this month the International Monetary Fund, which agreed to a $15.7 billion aid package with the World Bank to help Turkey, said that the country's economic programme was going well.

But it pointed out that "clearly a problem of market confidence continued and sustained implementation should take care of."

The crisis was sparked by a bitter public row between the prime minister and the president in February over the speed of reform. Ecevit walked out of a meeting admitting a crisis existed within his government.