Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is also the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced his resignation, in the wake of Erdogan’s dumping of the central bank governor on Nov. 7 and replacing him with a flunky, former Finance Minister Naci Agbal, without informing his Finance Minister Albayrak beforehand. Albayrak, 42, claimed, “After serving in ministerial posts for nearly five years, I took the decision not to continue my duty, due to health issues,” Albayrak posted in a statement on Instagram. He also said he intends to spend more time with his family, whom he said he “neglected.” He has deleted his Twitter account.
Since last week Turkey’s lira has been continually sliding downward, and Erdogan has continued to pressure the central bank to lower interest rates, a move that would only further that slide.
Erdogan has not yet accepted Albayrak’s resignation, nor are the press widely reporting the move, which has, however has caused considerable confusion, indicating the growing instability of Turkey’s political situation. The opposition newspaper Cumhurriyet wrote that Erdogan himself had asked Albayrak to resign because of pressure from the Nationalist Movement Party, the coalition partner of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), without which Erdogan would lose his parliamentary majority.
Erdogan continues to pursue military operations in Syria, and adventures in which he is openly supporting the Azerbaijan government in its conflict against Nagorno-Karabakh, including transferring terrorists from Syria to this new conflict zone. At the same time Turkey’s economy is nosediving, with high inflation, high unemployment, and a potential foreign debt crisis.
