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The Russians still cache a lot of money in Britain, don't they? And if the Turkish lira is sucking wind, alternatives are bound to be more attractive.

I mean, really - would you buy real estate in Turkey? For a Russian that might be one notch better than Afghanistan, and about on a par with Chechnya.

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Istanbul's New Opposition Mayor Cuts Funding To Some Pro-Government Groups
Reuters, 8/27/2019

Istanbul's new opposition municipality canceled the transfer of more than 350 million lira to some pro-government foundations, Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said on Tuesday, in one of his first moves against Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan since his election.

Imamoglu, of the main opposition Republican People's Party, won a decisive victory in a June 24 re-run vote, ending a 25-year rule by Erdogan's AK Party (AKP) and its predecessors in the country's largest city and commercial hub.

Throughout his election campaign, Imamoglu vowed to uncover what he said was the wasteful transfer of millions of lira to pro-government foundations by previous administrations.

"As of now, we have completed the cancellation of a total of 357 million lira ($62 million) of resources that were given or transferred to foundations," he told reporters on Tuesday, adding that this figure included 56 million of "food support" and a 165 lira building.

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Erdogan's AK Party Membership Seen Sliding Further As Dissent Grows
Orhan Coskun, Ece Toksabay, Reuters, 9/27/2019

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party faces more defections after losing 840,000 members in the last year, former loyalists say, compounding its difficulties after two founding members broke ranks aiming to set up rival parties. Erdogan, modern Turkey's longest serving leader, has already faced a series of setbacks this year including an economic recession which has eroded AK Party support and defeat for his candidates in mayoral elections in Ankara and Istanbul.

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The defections pose a serious challenge to Erdogan's 16-year rule in Turkey, a NATO member bridging Europe and the Middle East which wields regional power despite the downturn that hit its $722 billion economy. The AK Party already relies on an alliance with nationalists for its parliamentary majority, leaving it vulnerable if it loses even a small proportion of votes to new parties set up by either Babacan or Davutoglu.

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However, official data shows the huge membership of the party as a whole slid to 9.87 million by early September, from 10.72 million in August last year. In a speech to party officials earlier this month, Erdogan played down the decline, saying that 95% of the fall was due to deaths of existing members and that membership was still more than 10 million. But some commentators say the sliding membership reflects an underlying decline in support. "Erdogan's popularity over the last seven years...is generally on a declining trend, artificially boosted by one-off events, to the point where it looks irreversible," said Gareth Jenkins, of the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and Development Policy.

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Jenkins said a party formed by Babacan would draw support away at a critical time, with Erdogan making policy "mistakes and miscalculations" in the absence of good advice. "He has become more disconnected from the expertise and competence withing the AK Party, increasingly surrounded by 'yes' men," Jenkins added.