Write it down, my daughter: From excessive steering to punishment

Banks have cut off credit.

The interest rate on the remaining credit is astronomical.

Money has also dried up.

The only way to access credit is through savings-based schemes.

What else can the people do?

They have been steered toward offices converted from shops, lacking infrastructure and barely better than the shady parlors popping up like weeds on every street.

Just like in 2008.

Years ago, people were taking out housing loans in foreign currency.

Many households were ruined.

It was later banned, and the people were saved.

In 2008, I went to a bank to take out a small housing loan.

The banker started pressuring me to take out a Japanese yen loan.

He said it hadn't increased in a long time.

I replied that not only the Japanese yen but others hadn't increased either, noting that there was even talk at the time that 1 dollar would become 1 Turkish lira.

In 2008, neither the dollar nor other foreign currencies were rising; they were stagnant or even declining.

Then the branch manager came down from the floor above.

Clearly, the signal had been sent upstairs.

With the manager stepping in and applying pressure, I took the Japanese yen loan.

I signed the papers.

However, the loan was deposited into my account not as Japanese yen, but as Turkish lira.

While I was making my monthly payments in Turkish lira equivalent to the Japanese yen, the yen began to fall even further.

My debt was decreasing day by day.

I was in good spirits.

Then, for some reason, the yen started to rise.

Not only was the debt increasing, but a strange exchange rate difference tax was emerging while paying the installments.

Since my debt was low, I closed the loan immediately.

I also complained to the banker, asking why he had made me take out a Japanese yen loan.

When the banker blamed me, saying, "Professor, it was fine when it was falling, and you had the sense to sign it," the bank erupted in chaos.

Although the armed security guard intervened, he protected me—due to a debt of gratitude he owed me, as I had helped him resolve a situation without escalation when he accidentally fired his weapon in the bank—rather than the banker.

The banker got a good beating.

It turned out he had used similar expressions with other "yen victims," and the bank was in turmoil.

Those who had taken out large amounts of Japanese yen loans, like the late Kahtalı Mıçı, fell into difficult situations and ended up in court.

The lawsuits lasted a long time.

Some became ill, while others lost their property and assets to foreclosure and bankruptcy.

The cases didn't seem winnable, as everyone had approved and signed the documents of their own free will.

As a result of the trial, the court convicted the bank on two counts.

First, while there was a "Japanese yen loan" on paper, the Japanese yen itself was nowhere to be found.

The bank's relationship with Japan was at the level of sushi eaten at a Japanese restaurant in Taksim.

In other words, while the bank was distributing Japanese yen loans, it hadn't borrowed in yen from Japan, and they hadn't transferred Japanese yen to my account, but rather the Turkish lira equivalent of the Japanese yen.

The second, and more serious issue—the one that ensured the case was won—was that none of the "yen victims" had gone to the bank to take out a Japanese yen loan.

Most had heard the name of the Japanese yen for the first time at the branch.

The credit victims had been infected with the Japanese yen loan by the bank with the fairy tale that "the yen doesn't rise."

The court found the bank guilty of excessive steering, but,

"Ba'de harâbi'l-Basra," meaning "what good is it after Basra is destroyed?"