ANKARA

Turkish markets extended declines, sending the currency below 3 per dollar for the first time, as domestic political turmoil and a rout in emerging markets deepened.

The lira has weakened 22 percent this year, making it the year's second-worst emergingmarket currency following inconclusive elections in June and militant violence that reached the capital Istanbul Wednesday. Facing an economic slowdown, the central bank left interest rates unchanged this week and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may call a new vote as soon as October.

"Nobody wants to catch the falling knife," Akin Tuzun, an analyst at VTB in Moscow, said by e-mail. Currencies in devel-