The Turkish currency and debt crisis of 2018 was caused by the Turkish economy 's excessive current account deficit and foreign-currency debt , in combination with Erdoğan 's increasing authoritarianism and his unorthodox ideas about interest rate policy . Economist Paul Krugman described the unfolding crisis as " a classic currency-and-debt crisis , of a kind we 've seen many times " , adding : " At such a time , the quality of leadership suddenly matters a great deal . You need officials who understand what 's happening , can devise a response and have enough credibility that markets give them the benefit of the doubt . Some emerging markets have those things , and they are riding out the turmoil fairly well . The Erdoğan regime has none of that . " Amid claims that the Turkish government funds IS fighters , several Kurdish demonstrations broke out near the Turkish-Syrian border in protest against the government 's inactivity . These protests escalated during the fighting in the border town of Kobane , with 42 protestors being killed following a brutal police crackdown . Voicing concerns that aid to Kurdish fighters would assist PKK rebels in resuming terrorist attacks against Turkey , Erdoğan held bilateral talks with Barack Obama regarding IS during the 5 – 6 September 2014 NATO summit in Newport , Wales . In early October , United States Vice President Joe Biden accused Turkey of funding IS , to which Erdoğan angrily responded , " Biden has to apologize for his statements " adding that if no apology is made , Biden would become " history to me . " Biden subsequently apologised . In response to the U.S. request to use İncirlik Air Base to conduct air strikes against IS , Erdoğan demanded that Bashar al-Assad be removed from power first . Turkey lost its bid for a Security Council seat in the United Nations during the 2014 election ; the unexpected result is believed to have been a reaction to Erdoğan 's hostile treatment of ethnic Kurds fighting ISIS on the Syrian border and a rebuke of his willingness to support IS-aligned insurgents opposed to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad
2014 NATO summit
2014 Wales summit
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan