The head of the Turkish central bank has resigned following corruption allegations. Hafize Gaye Erkan speaks of a “major character assassination campaign.”
The head of the Turkish central bank, Hafize Gaye Erkan, has tendered her resignation following corruption allegations. She asked President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to be relieved of her duties, “which I have fulfilled with honor since day one,” Erkan said on Friday on the online network X.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed Deputy Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan as Turkey's new Central Bank Governor. The country announced this in an official gazette early Saturday morning.
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The 44-year-old former banker hit the headlines because of allegations of nepotism. According to Turkish media reports, Erkan's father was given an office, a company car and bodyguards by the central bank. He was therefore even allowed to make personnel decisions.
Erkan justifies his resignation with a “major character assassination campaign”
Erdoğan was also reportedly upset because Erkan told the Hürriyet newspaper in January that she had moved back in with her parents because she had been unable to find an affordable apartment in Istanbul because of the high rents.
In her resignation, Erkan wrote that a “major character assassination campaign” had been organized against her. By resigning, she wanted to prevent her family and her one-year-old child from being even more affected.
After his re-election last May, Erdoğan appointed Erkan as the first woman in history to head the Turkish central bank. Since taking office in June, she has focused on drastic interest rate increases in the fight against high inflation. The Turkish central bank recently raised the key interest rate to 45 percent at the end of January. Erdogan had opposed such a monetary policy for years.
