Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged to protect the Turkish lira and punish those who target it by speculation.
Erdogan made the remarks in a speech on Sunday at the mass rally of the People's Alliance of Yeni Kabbi in Istanbul, in which the leader of the Nationalist Party, Dulat Pahtli, is taking part, a week before the local elections scheduled for March 31 in Turkey.
Erdoğan said Turkey's Banking Regulatory and Supervision Organization had begun to take some steps in that regard.
"We know who you all are, what you are doing on the eve of the elections, and to know that we will make you pay a heavy price after the elections."
Turkey's regulator said it opened an investigation into complaints against US investment bank JPMorgan and other banks over a "misleading" report that caused the lira to fall by more than 4 percent and a sharp drop in the main index on the Turkish bourse on Friday.
The agency said on Saturday it had received complaints that the report published by JPMorgan on Friday damaged the reputation of Turkish banks and caused volatility in financial markets, adding that "administrative and judicial measures" would be taken in this regard.
Speculation
The Turkish Capital Markets Authority said yesterday it opened an investigation after receiving complaints that the report was "misleading" and encouraged stock speculation on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
The Turkish lira fell more than 4 percent against the dollar on Friday, its biggest one-day drop since the currency crisis in August, raising concerns about Turks' willingness to buy foreign currency as their country's relations with Washington deteriorated.
Meanwhile, Erdogan spoke about the planned projects in Istanbul, including the start of work to establish the "Biotechnology Valley" in Istanbul's Tuzla region, worth six billion Turkish liras (the equivalent of about 5.76 Turkish liras) and the establishment of a center for technological development worth 3.5 billion lira.
He pointed out that will be created studios giant film to shoot in Istanbul at a cost of 900 million lira.