ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Hafize Gaye Erkan, the first female governor of the Turkish Central Bank, resigned from her position on Friday, less than a year after taking office, saying she was forced to resign because of a smear campaign against her.
A “major smear campaign has recently been organized against me. In order to prevent my family and my innocent child, who is not even one and a half years old, from being further affected by this process, I have requested our president to release me from my duty, which I have been carrying out with honor since the first day,” she said in a statement.
Erkan was appointed bank governor by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in June last year with hopes that she could prevent further collapse of the country’s currency. The Turkish currency is trading at a record low 30.53 liras against the United States dollar.
She came under criticism for allegedly allowing her father to get involved in decision-making at the bank, Al Monitor reported.
It is not clear if Erdogan has approved her resignation but Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek described her as the “former” governor of the bank in a statement.
“The decision taken by the former president of the Central Bank, Hafize Gaye Erkan, is completely personal and at their own discretion. I respect her decision and thank her for her valuable services and contributions to our country,” read the statement.
Erkan, 44, has a doctorate in financial engineering from Princeton. She has held several high calibre positions in the past, including managing director and head of financial institutions at Goldman Sachs, and the CEO of the First Republic Bank that collapsed earlier this year. She was the fifth governor of the central bank under the presidency of Erdogan.
She replaced Sehap Kavcioglu, a columnist who was appointed by Erdogan after penning strong criticism of his predecessor’s decision to hike interest rates. Kavcioglu started cutting interest rates in response to the lira losing value. However, the policy further worsened soaring inflation and the value of the lira. Under Kavcioglu's governance, Erdogan was slammed for interfering with the central bank's independence.
A “major smear campaign has recently been organized against me. In order to prevent my family and my innocent child, who is not even one and a half years old, from being further affected by this process, I have requested our president to release me from my duty, which I have been carrying out with honor since the first day,” she said in a statement.
Erkan was appointed bank governor by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in June last year with hopes that she could prevent further collapse of the country’s currency. The Turkish currency is trading at a record low 30.53 liras against the United States dollar.
She came under criticism for allegedly allowing her father to get involved in decision-making at the bank, Al Monitor reported.
It is not clear if Erdogan has approved her resignation but Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek described her as the “former” governor of the bank in a statement.
“The decision taken by the former president of the Central Bank, Hafize Gaye Erkan, is completely personal and at their own discretion. I respect her decision and thank her for her valuable services and contributions to our country,” read the statement.
Erkan, 44, has a doctorate in financial engineering from Princeton. She has held several high calibre positions in the past, including managing director and head of financial institutions at Goldman Sachs, and the CEO of the First Republic Bank that collapsed earlier this year. She was the fifth governor of the central bank under the presidency of Erdogan.
She replaced Sehap Kavcioglu, a columnist who was appointed by Erdogan after penning strong criticism of his predecessor’s decision to hike interest rates. Kavcioglu started cutting interest rates in response to the lira losing value. However, the policy further worsened soaring inflation and the value of the lira. Under Kavcioglu's governance, Erdogan was slammed for interfering with the central bank's independence.
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