Erdoğan appoints Central Bank Deputy Governor Karahan as new chief following Erkan's resignation

Duvar English

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late on Feb. 2 appointed Central Bank Deputy Governor Fatih Karahan as the new chief hours after former Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan's resignation.

Erdoğan's appointment was published in the Official Gazette.

Fatih Karahan has been Central Bank Deputy Governor since July 2023. He completed a master's degree and a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Pennsylvania. He became a senior economist at Amazon in 2022 and was appointed principal economist there in November 2022.

He was also an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York between 2012 and 2022. 

Erkan on Feb. 2 resigned from her duty, citing "defamation campaign" against her and her family. Erkan said she was resigning to prevent her family from further harm.

After her resignation, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said a new governor, "who is a well respected macroeconomist with an extraordinary depth of knowledge and expertise," would be appointed in line with his recommendation.

Erkan's resignation came after accusations arose earlier last month of her father’s involvement in the bank, who allegedly acted as an unofficial manager at the bank, slapping and dismissing a central bank employee and allocating some of the bank’s social facilities to the family.