Istanbul, Nov. 9, (dpa/GNA) – In the midst of Turkey’s deepening currency crisis, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law unexpectedly announced Sunday that he intended to resign from his post as finance minister.
Berat Albayrak, 42, wrote on Instagram he could not continue in the position due to unspecified health reasons and that he wanted to spend more time with his family.
A Finance Ministry spokesperson confirmed the post’s authenticity to dpa.
Erdogan named Albayrak finance minister in July 2018. Prior to that, Albayrak served as energy minister. Since 2004 he has been married to Erdogan’s daughter Esra.
It was not clear whether Erdogan would accept Albayrak’s resignation. In April, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced his resignation but Erdogan refused to accept it and Soylu remained in office.
The Turkish lira has been depreciating for weeks. But in recent days its value had fallen rapidly, hitting another record low in trading against the US dollar on Friday.
At times 8.576 lira had to be paid for 1 dollar – about 49 per cent more than a year ago. The lira is among the worst emerging market currency performers this year.
Albayrak’s announcement comes a day after Erdogan sacked the central bank governor in an overnight decree.
Murat Uysal, who has been serving as governor since July 2019, has been replaced with Naci Agbal, a former finance minister, the decree published in the Official Gazette said, without citing a reason.
Since becoming Turkey’s first executive president in 2018, Erdogan has the authority to appoint ministers and members of the judiciary.
GNA