Why are Turkish politicians incompetent?

?Highly illogical!? As a response to my latest column, a reader used Mr. Spock?s catchphrase to pay homage to Leonard Nimoy, who passed away on Feb. 27.

On Friday, I discussed why President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an was continuing with his tirades against the Central Bank of Turkey for lower rates even though his rhetoric was clearly hurting the lira. I entertained the idea that he could be aiming for a weaker currency to boost exports and then explained why that would not work. Some readers questioned whether he could be so irrational.

Mert Y?ld?z of Roubini Global Economics had an entirely different take in his recent column at the Diken website. He started by noting that all of Erdo?an?s speeches are carefully planned. He believes that Erdo?an is rational and knows the consequences of a depreciated currency on the real sector. And yet the president has chosen to push for lower rates nonetheless - simply because the public -at-large has many more votes than businessmen.

It is a thought-provoking idea, but if Erdo?an?s businessmen go down, who will complete his grand projects? Who will own the media to propagate his propaganda? Besides, a weakening lira erodes the purchasing power of consumers, whereas lower rates would actually help construction firms.

Interestingly, Erdo?an?s economic errors are not so different from those of the economics professor of a prime minister who cancelled government bond auctions to lower interest rates - and caused a financial crisis - in 1994. Fellow Hürriyet Daily News columnist Güven Sak believes that this shows Turks? obsession with interest rates, but I see a bigger theme: Why are we Turks blessed with incompetent politicians?

I found an answer when I did a Google search for ?economic...