Shakeup of economy team stuns Turkey, cheers investors
Presidential son-in-law Berat Albayrak has quit as finance minister amid economic turmoil, but most news outlets pretended it didn’t happen.
ISTANBUL — If a Turkish minister resigns on Instagram and the news doesn’t report it, did it happen?
That was the riddle confronting Turkey a day after Berat Albayrak, the 42-year-old finance minister who is married to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s daughter, said in a letter posted on the photo-sharing platform that he quit due to unspecified health issues and a desire to spend more time with his parents, as well as his wife and children.
All but one mainstream news channel ignored Albayrak’s letter late on Sunday, posted during a time of economic tumult in Turkey. Even the newspaper and TV channels run by Albayrak’s family pretended it didn’t happen — until Erdogan announced he accepted the resignation, more than 24 hours later.
The surprise resignation came one day after Erdogan abruptly sacked the Central Bank governor and replaced him with a loyalist in the middle of the night. The weekend’s chaotic maneuvering comes as fears mount that record losses in the lira currency could unleash Turkey's second financial crisis in as many years.
