Turkey’s Erdoğan backs Central Bank governor after claims on her family’s involvement in bank

Turkish President Erdoğan has deemed “rumors” on Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan’s family’s involvement in the bank “preposterous,” which were aimed at “disrupting the climate of confidence and stability in our economy.”

Wednesday January 24 2024 11:12 pm

Duvar English

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Jan. 24 backed Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan after the claims regarding her dad’s involvement in the bank.

“When our Central Bank reserves hit a record high of 145.5 billion dollars, they immediately took action. They launch campaigns to disrupt the climate of confidence and stability that we have achieved with great difficulty in our economy with preposterous rumors,” Erdoğan said during a meeting held for the announcement of Ankara district mayoral candidates of the AKP.

“We are determined to frustrate those who pin all their hopes on our country stumbling, as we have done before. We absolutely do not care about the merchants of sedition who try to create chaos through rumors,” the 69-year-old leader added.

Erdoğan’s statement came after the claims that Erkan’s father acted as an unofficial manager, firing some employees in the bank, and that the bank's social facilities were allocated to her family.

Büşra Bozkurt, a Central Bank employee, applied to the Presidential Communication Center (CİMER), claiming that Erol Erkan, Hafize Gaye Erkan’s father, dismissed her, and that he was mobbing the employees.

Bozkurt said the Erkan family closed the bank’s social facility and the İzmir camp to current and retired employees for their private use. She also said Erol Erkan was allocated a room in the bank and he could give orders to the general managers.

Moreover, Bozkurt argued that the father Erkan slapped an employee and “there is footage.”

Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan on Jan. 18 refuted the claims, saying “deliberate and untruthful news that destroys confidence in our Bank by targeting me and my family have been circulated in recent days.”

Opposition parties called on Erkan to resign from her post after the allegations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Wall Street banker Hafize Gaye Erkan as central bank chief after his May re-election. She has led a policy U-turn to relieve an economy strained by depleted FX reserves and surging inflation expectations.