Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan announced her resignation on February 2 with a statement on her social media account. On February 3, the Official Gazette announced that Erkan was “sacked” and current Deputy Governor Fatih Karahan was appointed as the new Governor of the CBRT.
The Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette included the following statements:
“Hafize Gaye Erkan, Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, has been dismissed pursuant to Article 2 of the Presidential Decree No. 3 and Article 35 of the Additional Article of the Decree Law No. 375, and Fatih Karahan, Deputy Governor, has been appointed to the vacant position of Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey pursuant to Article 25 of the Law No. 1211 dated 14/1/1970 and Articles 2, 3 and 7 of the Presidential Decree No. 3.”
Erkan: “I asked to be pardoned”
On February 2, MB President Hafize Gaye Erkan made a statement on her social media account, stating that “a campaign of reputation assassination” had been organized against her recently and that she had “requested her pardon from her post”.
In her statement, Erkan said, “As is known to the public, there has been a major campaign of reputation assassination against me in the recent period. In order to prevent my family and, moreover, my sinless child, who has not even turned one and a half years old yet, from being further affected by this process, I have requested from our esteemed President to be pardoned from my duty, which I have carried out with honor since day one.”
Immediately after Erkan’s statement, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek stated that Erkan’s decision was “purely personal” and that he had submitted his proposal for the new MB Governor to the Presidency.
However, according to information given to YetkinReport by economic sources, Mehmet Şimşek proposed Erkan’s resignation to the Presidency. Şimşek suggested Erkan’s resignation, stating that the allegations that have emerged in recent days are “incompatible with the credibility and working method of the Central Bank”, and upon the suggestion, the President accepted the resignation.
The Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette stated that Erkan was “sacked”.
Who is Fatih Karahan?
Born in 1982 in Eskişehir, Fatih Karahan graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering in 2006. In 2012, he completed his master’s and doctorate in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
He started his career as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2012 and served as the Head of Labor and Product Market Studies and monetary policy advisor at the aforementioned institution until 2022.
Karahan, who also served as a part-time lecturer at Columbia University and New York University, started working as a senior economist at Amazon in 2022. Karahan was appointed Chief Economist at Amazon in November 2022.
Karahan was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey on July 28, 2023.