Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak announced his resignation via social media on Sunday evening, various media write, including Bloomberg. The resignation follows the resignation of the governor of the Turkish Central Bank on Saturday and the fall of the Turkish lira. Albayrak is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law.
In his announcement, Albayrak said he wanted to spend more time with his family. In addition, he said there were health reasons for his decision. For a long time there was uncertainty about the authenticity of the announcement. There were rumors on the internet that his social media accounts had been hacked.
Albayrak was appointed by Erdogan as Finance Minister in 2018 following the transition to a presidential system in Turkey. He was previously Minister of Energy.
Albayrak had been under fire for some time due to the poorly performing economy and the fall of the Turkish lira. The currency has lost more than 30 percent of its value against the dollar this year. Earlier this weekend, this led to the resignation of the governor of the Turkish Central Bank, Murat Uysal.
Erdogan has yet to accept Albayrak’s resignation. Earlier this year, the resignation of Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu was not accepted by the president. Soylu had offered his resignation for the messy announcement of a curfew that prompted many Turks to rush to the stores at the height of the corona crisis.
For a long time Albayrak was crowned prince of Erdogan. Behind the scenes, he was reportedly engaged in a power struggle with Soylu. Albayrak was also known as the architect of the backroom politics between Erdogan and the outgoing US President Donald Trump. Erdogan has not yet commented on Albayrak’s decision.
– .
