Source: NOW. (Syria rebels replace pound with Turkish lira)
Rebel institutions in northern Syria have agreed to drop the nation’s currency.
Rebels in northern Syria have begun to use the Turkish lira in place of the Syrian pound as Turkey moves forward with its plan to establish an ISIS-free safe along its border.
Several anti-regime news outlets reported Monday that the Syrian Committee for Replacing the Trading Currency issued a decree ruling that that Turkish lira will now be used as an official currency.
The Sharia Court in Aleppo Province, in turn, issued its own decree ordering the commencement of trading using the Turkish lira, in a video which also announced that the rebel institution’s employees would receive their wages in the new currency.
According to the online news service All4Syria, the head of the sharia court said in the video that “all rebel institutions have agreed to trade with the currency.”
“Employees in these institutions have responded favorably to the decree,” All4Syria cited the official as saying.
In an interview with the outlet, the head of the Local Council of the Free City of Aleppo explained some of the reasons behind the decision.
“With regard to payment of salaries in Turkish lira for last June-July an installment reached us at the beginning of Ramadan in dollars,” Osama Taljo said.
“However it reached [us] at the peak of the fuel crisis and the dollar was lost in the market. We were forced to deliver the installment in Turkish lira and salaries were paid in Turkish currency.”
“That was imposed by circumstances, but [now] there is a consensus decision by all the active forces on the ground in Aleppo to replace the Syrian Pound with another currency, and it has been agreed that it will be the Turkish currency.”
“The decree will come in to force at the beginning of next month and we will abide by it.”
“We will abide by the fundamental part and that is not to trade in Syrian pounds. If we are able to pay salaries in dollars… we will do that. If we are not we will pay in Turkish lira.”
A press release published on the Syrian Committee for Replacing the Trading Currency’s Facebook made a case for why adopting the Turkish lira would be a good idea.
The page long report said the measure would help remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s political power and encouraged support for it on the basis that the economies of Western states are “the main driving force of the Syrian regime in its despotism.”
Among the other points listed, the report noted that the Turkish lira “has small monetary units for daily circulation, and that is not available with the dollar.”
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