Our last hope: Allah

Top Turkish cleric says sermons to help lift lira

ANKARA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Turkey's top Islamic cleric said on Tuesday 
sermons at the country's mosques would urge the faithful to use the battered 
lira currency in an effort to stop the tender's months-long slide against the 
dollar. 

"We will only tell the people...if we protect our currency, we will be a 
freer country," Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz told reporters. "It is our responsibility 
to enlighten and inform the people." 

An economic crisis has sliced off more than half of the value of the lira 
against the dollar since the government was forced to quit defending it in 
February when political bickering unleashed turmoil in financial markets. 

The lira traded on Tuesday at 1,407,000 to the dollar. 

Observers are concerned the economy is becoming dollarised as investors and 
private citizens sell lira for hard currencies considered safer investments. 
Nearly half of all deposits are now in foreign currencies, analysts said. 

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Monday said he backed a campaign to restore 
confidence in the lira. The effort includes slogans such as "National money 
is national honour" and "Happy is he who uses the Turkish lira." 

The small left-wing Labour Party has even called for the dollar to be 
outlawed in Turkey. 

"Our money has become non-transferrable among our citizens," Yilmaz said. 
"Our citizens are not shopping, they are not renting homes. This saddens us." 

When asked if the sermons would influence mosque-goers, Yilmaz said: "Without 
doubt, they will have an effect. Every citizen who attends Friday prayers 
listens to the sermon with his soul and tries to do what he hears." 

Turkey's population of 65 million people is overwhelmingly Muslim.