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Albayrak's resignation came as a shock to the markets as did Erdogan's firing of the central bank governor the previous day.
Turkey’s finance minister resigns day after central bank governor is fired by Erdogan
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All eyes were on rising turmoil in Turkey’s Erdogan administration late on November 8 after Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak unexpectedly handed in his resignation one day after the early morning hours firing by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of central bank governor Murat Uysal.
The crisis-stricken Turkish lira (TRY) prior to the weekend slid to its latest all-time low of 8.59 to the dollar taking its losses to around 50% in two years as officials struggled to convince the markets that they in any shape or form have a realistic plan to stop Turkey falling into an outright balance of
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payments crisis and the election of Joe Biden to the US presidency – unlike incumbent Donald Trump, Biden is not expected to turn a blind eye to some
of Erdogan’s more aggressive policies and could advance sanctions, having described him as an “autocrat” – added to the pressure on Ankara.
Turkey’s finance ministry confirmed
to news agencies that a post on the official Instagram account of Albayrak, a 42-year-old son-in-law of Erdogan, announcing his resignation for health reasons was genuine.
“I decided not to continue my duty as a minister after five years in office due
to health reasons,” Albayrak, who was minister of energy before taking the top economy post in mid-2018, said in his statement. “I’ll spend my time with my mother, father, wife and kids, whom
I have neglected for many years out of necessity.”
Middle East Eye reported sources as saying that Albayrak, who has deleted his Twitter account, might have resigned after Erdogan replaced the central bank governor without his knowledge.
The lira gained more than 1% in response to the Albayrak news, but
it is not at all clear yet as to what Erdogan, who would need to approve