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John Micklethwait on Erdogan Interview (Audio) · Bloomberg Intelligence

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Taking stock of a Turkey and the Turkish president making
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  Speaker 1: comments today saying that it doesn't really care what credit
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: rating agencies due to the rating of his country. Here
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  Speaker 1: to tell us more, and also joining me in studio
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  Speaker 1: is Matt Miller, my co host for the next hour.
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  Speaker 1: So Matt, great to have you here. Um. John, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm glad you came in because John Micklethwaite is here.
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  Speaker 1: He is Bloomberg News editor in chief. And John, thank you.
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  Speaker 1: I know you've had a long week as many people
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  Speaker 1: have traveled almost as much as Matt Miller, almost as
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  Speaker 1: much as I was gonna say, not as fast on
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  Speaker 1: on two wheels. Um, tell us about your interview with
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  Speaker 1: the President of Turkey. First of all, what had you
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  Speaker 1: met him previously? I'd met him once for about five
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  Speaker 1: minutes at a conference. Um. He very relaxed. Um, as
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  Speaker 1: you're pointing out, just what weekend want to see. It
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  Speaker 1: made this habit of interviewing what might be described as
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  Speaker 1: democratic strongman in sense of hum. Seeing Trump briefly the
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  Speaker 1: other day and now and now I'm Dan. I think Dan.
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  Speaker 1: The interesting things about him is, you know, he has
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  Speaker 1: ruled Turkey for a long time. He had in political terms,
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  Speaker 1: especially given that democratic strongman background. He had a near
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  Speaker 1: death experience in the summer with the coup, but he
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  Speaker 1: does have real issues to do with the economy. And
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  Speaker 1: you pointed out, Um, you know he's said to the
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  Speaker 1: credit rating agencies. Look, I really don't care what you say.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we say it doesn't doesn't tend to be
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  Speaker 1: always a good idea. Well, we say, what doesn't kill
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  Speaker 1: you makes you stronger. Is it definitely the case with
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  Speaker 1: er do Wan. I mean, did that coup you say
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  Speaker 1: it's a near death experience, but make him a stronger leader. Um,
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  Speaker 1: it's made him a stronger leader to the extent that
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  Speaker 1: he's managed to round up about a hundred thousand people
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  Speaker 1: um and either get rid of push him out of
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  Speaker 1: jobs or put some in jail. Again. I pushed him
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  Speaker 1: on this. He is not entirely good when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to journalists. In particular, Turkey jails more journalists than anywhere
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  Speaker 1: else around the country, around the world, and he is that.
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  Speaker 1: That's to that extent, I think Dawin, yes, he is
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  Speaker 1: back in control. But in my experience, when you have
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  Speaker 1: that sort of leader, if there is a sort of
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  Speaker 1: coup attempt, that tends to make them more worried. And
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  Speaker 1: it's interesting that one of his one of his responses
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  Speaker 1: has been to try and get more power. I was
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  Speaker 1: going to say he hadn't got for Toolagulan. No, who's
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  Speaker 1: sitting as I pointed out to him, and sitting in
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania in a place where if he flew down to
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  Speaker 1: Washington and he'd probably fly over the top, and he's
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  Speaker 1: hoping very much that they will manage to extradite him.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think anyone in America thinks that is likely.
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  Speaker 1: The Turkish case is the Turkish case which we should
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  Speaker 1: treat seriously, is that they often give terrorists to America.
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  Speaker 1: They see Gulan as being part of a similar level,
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  Speaker 1: and they are demanding his extradition. The Americans are saying
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  Speaker 1: that has to go through the courts. They're saying, no,
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  Speaker 1: this is to do with a crime that happened in Turkey,
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  Speaker 1: Hi the coupe, and they are trying to push it. Nobody,
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  Speaker 1: as far as I can work out, seems I think
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  Speaker 1: it is likely to get through. And so you're going
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  Speaker 1: to end up an ever more exasperated who already has
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  Speaker 1: issues with America with lots of things including America at
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  Speaker 1: the moment, arming Curdist curbs, Kurdish um separatists in various places.
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  Speaker 1: I just want to play a clip of the interview
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  Speaker 1: and get your reaction. You're gonna all hear this, go
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  Speaker 1: ahead and were your strategic partner. We're together in Native
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  Speaker 1: give him to us and let us try him. That's
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  Speaker 1: to us needed what they said. The court is going
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  Speaker 1: to the I'm sorry, but we can't wait for these
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  Speaker 1: kind of decisions from these kinds of courts because this
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  Speaker 1: crime wasn't committed in the US. It was committed in Turkey,
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  Speaker 1: So let us make the decision as the president of Turkey.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking with John Michele Twaite, Bloomberg editor in chief earlier today.
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  Speaker 1: So John, when he says that what do you hear
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  Speaker 1: or feel? Is the next thing you hear a degree
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  Speaker 1: of anger? I think he didn't answer the question specifically,
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  Speaker 1: which I asked next, which what is your plan be?
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  Speaker 1: If everyone is correct and you're unlikely to get this
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  Speaker 1: guy out, then what are you gonna do next? And
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  Speaker 1: he merely he said in the government's always tend to
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  Speaker 1: have a something up the sleeve which they can use later.
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  Speaker 1: But I suspect the main thing he will do is
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  Speaker 1: sulk and be kind of cross about it. And there
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  Speaker 1: is a kind of problem there. And you have to
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  Speaker 1: remember that Turkey, notwithstanding some of the things which happened,
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  Speaker 1: there is still part of NATO. It is still an
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  Speaker 1: ally of America. But at this precise moment, if you
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  Speaker 1: look over the past few years, it's been one which
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  Speaker 1: has been going in different directions. So what's the problem.
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  Speaker 1: Why why don't we give him for Toola goal? And
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  Speaker 1: if for Toola goal and is connected to this cool
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  Speaker 1: and he's an ally of ours and he gives us
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  Speaker 1: criminals that we demand extradition for. Well that's there are
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  Speaker 1: the similarities be to Matt Miller and president and get ever,
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  Speaker 1: most can only be a matter of time. Now you
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  Speaker 1: put the case much more eloquently than I did. With
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  Speaker 1: the response I think of the American side is well,
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  Speaker 1: we have to go through due process on this. Where
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  Speaker 1: is the evidence that you've said this? You have repeatedly
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  Speaker 1: claimed this man is trying to do things. Um, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we want to see evidence that he actually is involved.
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  Speaker 1: And the word good is very inting. Gooden is a
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  Speaker 1: name they charge around everywhere. I asked him doing also
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  Speaker 1: about the Central Bank, where we have the same issue,
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  Speaker 1: where at least some people, I think himself is generally
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  Speaker 1: avoided saying this directly, but some of the people close
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  Speaker 1: to him have complained about the previous management of the
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  Speaker 1: central Bank and said it was full of goodness. This
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  Speaker 1: time I doant to talk about the need to clean
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  Speaker 1: out any goodness who are still there. But that was
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  Speaker 1: another place. It's a very kind of paranoid place when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to politics. Perky. Do you feel that when
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  Speaker 1: you're when you're in his presence, No, he was strangely relaxed.
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  Speaker 1: I wonder he's he's um. There is less sort of
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  Speaker 1: an element of fear around him. He he has one
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  Speaker 1: The strange thing about doing, at least in to this extent,
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  Speaker 1: is that, yes, there are lots of things which are
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  Speaker 1: reprehensible about him, such as being tough on John is
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  Speaker 1: such a thing, a lot of the treatment of people
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  Speaker 1: who seem to oppose him, claiming that anyone who insults
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  Speaker 1: him has to get to jail, all that sort of stuff,
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  Speaker 1: and yet he has won elections a series of them.
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  Speaker 1: So one of the questions for him is, you know,
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  Speaker 1: why on earth do you do this stuff? If you
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  Speaker 1: are actually quite good winning the politics anyway. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: very much for being with us. John Michael Thwaite is
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Bloomberg News editor in chief, speaking about the Turkish president
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  Speaker 1: Richard Ard One. I'm PIM Fox, my co host Matt Miller,
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  Speaker 1: this is taking Stock, and this is Bloomberg