President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned that in an increasingly interconnected world, no country can remain isolated from crises unfolding elsewhere, saying the economic and political aftershocks of the Iran war are being felt across continents through inflation, supply chain disruptions and energy market instability.
Speaking at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan said globalization and deep economic interdependence mean regional conflicts now carry worldwide consequences.
"When a country in the Middle East sneezes today, a country in Latin America or Asia can easily catch a cold," Erdoğan said, describing the ongoing uncertainty following attacks against Iran on Feb. 28 as a multilayered crisis affecting global stability.
He pointed to continued volatility in fuel prices, rising inflation, unresolved supply chain disruptions and persistent bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz as signs of widening global fragility.
Erdoğan warned that the full scale of destruction caused by the economic shock wave remains impossible to predict, while criticizing what he described as a profiteering system driven by speculation and market manipulation.
"A handful of wild capitalists controlling hot money are enriching themselves by effectively taking away the livelihoods of billions of people from Africa to Asia and from America to Latin America," Erdoğan said.
He added that while middle-and lower-income families face shrinking purchasing power and rising living costs, global financial actors continue expanding their wealth through instability and conflict.
"Every war creates its own economy. Every war has its winners and losers. But with the Iran war, this has exceeded the limits of tolerance and reached destructive levels for global economic prosperity," Erdoğan said.
The Turkish president also criticized excessive price increases in domestic markets, saying some pricing behavior in Türkiye could not be explained solely by production or transportation costs despite the country having some of Europe’s lowest input costs, particularly in energy.
Erdoğan said authorities would continue inspections and measures against opportunistic pricing practices and called on businesses to support efforts aimed at protecting market stability and consumers.
Erdoğan also said Israel’s attacks would never prevent the international community’s pursuit of justice and solidarity with the Palestinian people, as he strongly condemned Israel's attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla as "piracy" and "banditry" against the "voyagers of hope" aboard the aid flotilla, which included citizens from 40 different countries.
