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[“Interest is the mother of all evil.” Erdogan has repeatedly said he believes that high interest rates cause inflation, flying in the face of the economic rule that tightening the monetary supply reduces inflation. Some of his defenders say that his idea is rooted in the economist Irving Fisher, who held that a country could pull itself out of deflation by raising interest rates. Erdogan has been railing against the interest rate lobby since the beginning of his career, and financiers for a while gave him a pass as a politician cushioning the side effects of economic reality. Now, it’s apparent that Erdogan’s hostility toward interest is more philosophical, based in Islamic and Christian views of usury as sinful. What’s more, his vocal opposition to the wishes of his own Central Bank governors has worried investors about the independence of that institution.

“Many foreign investors over the years thought that Erdogan’s views of high interest rates was a standard politician’s criticism of rates,” says Inan Demir, an economist at Nomura, a Japanese financial holding firm. “But more recently, especially after Erdogan’s most recent statements in front of foreign investors in London, most people think it’s different, and it’s more deep-rooted in his belief system.”]

Nobody knows what Erdogan believes. All we know is what he says. And he’s said all kinds of belligerent things about the US and Israel and delivered on none of them. If my admittedly limited personal experience with Turks is any indicator, Erdogan talks and thinks the way the average Turk does. I know a guy who’s anti-Erdogan, a daily wine drinker, reads Hurriyet religiously and yet, apart from the interest rate thing and religious issues, pretty much mirrors Erdogan in his outlook. I find that a lot of Turks in online forums also think that way.

It’s said of Nicolas Cage that his acting style can be encapsulated in the phrase “more is more”. In other words, exaggerated emotionality is his trademark. The same could be said of Erdogan. He never just says something. It’s got to be in block letters, highlighted in neon orange.