The stunning replacements of Turkey’s central bank governor and the treasury and finance minister send a strong signal that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, alarmed over snowballing economic woes, could risk snap elections to salvage his political future. 

The drama in Ankara unfolded Nov. 7, when Turks woke up to the news that Central Bank Gov. Murat Uysal had been sacked overnight after only 16 months in office. Before the dust settled, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak — Erdogan’s son-in-law whom many saw as the president’s possible successor — announced his resignation late Nov. 8 in what appeared to be a hastily scribbled statement posted on Instagram. Albayrak, who was under mounting criticism over his management of the economy, vanished from public view, while it took Erdogan more than 24 hours to acknowledge the resignation, which he described as Albayrak’s “request to be excused from his duties” due to health issues.

No reason was given for the sacking of Uysal, whom Erdogan had cherrypicked in July 2019 as a docile replacement of Murat Cetinkaya, who, the president said, was disobeying his instructions to keep interest rates low. Albayrak cited unspecified health reasons for stepping down, but the unprecedented manner of his resignation — through a message addressing the public rather than the president, coupled with his failure to attend a traditional handover ceremony with his successor — was a sharp departure from state traditions and reminiscent of a family feud.

In any case, Turkey’s economic turmoil can hardly be overcome by replacing officials as it stems from accumulated structural problems, compounded by an institutional erosion that Erdogan’s “one-man rule” has caused by upholding loyalty over merits.