Turkey's currency drops to record low on Russian missile defense tensions

Turkey’s currency dropped to a new historic low on Thursday, with the US dollar buying a record high of 7.942 lira by late afternoon in Istanbul, CNBC reported. 

The move is the latest in more than two years of consistent depreciation of the Turkish note, most recently intensified by Ankara’s involvement in a slew of geopolitical conflicts including Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, eastern Mediterranean resource disputes and its purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense system. 

Washington just on Wednesday issued a stern rebuke in response to local reports that Turkey was preparing to test the S-400 system, purchased from Russia despite vocal opposition from the US and the rest of NATO.