Fired Turkey Central Bank Employee Widens Claims Against Governor’s Father

(Bloomberg) — A former employee of the Turkish Central Bank repeated allegations that the father of Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan played a direct role in having her fired, and said other bank staff had also been targeted.

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Busra Bozkurt told Turkey’s high-circulation Sozcu newspaper that she stands by her formal complaint to the Turkish presidency, in which she claimed the governor’s father, Erol Erkan, had requested her dismissal.

The senior Erkan, who has no formal role at the central bank, also tried to get other staff dismissed, Bozkurt told the newspaper. Sozcu first published excerpts of Bozkurt’s account on Thursday. Erkan, who’s led the central bank since June, denied the allegations in a post on her personal X account on Thursday, and vowed to take legal action.

Read more: Turkey Central Bank Chief Says Reports on Family Are Baseless

The central bank did not return a request for comment when reached by Bloomberg on Saturday. Bloomberg was not able to independently verify Bozkurt’s account or reach her directly. People familiar with the matter and speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal told Bloomberg that Erkan’s father was a regular presence at the bank and was involved in all affairs, starting with human resources.

Erol Erkan denied the new claims, Patronlar Dunyasi reported on Saturday, telling the Turkish website the allegations were part of an effort to damage his daughter’s reputation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has exercised growing influence over the central bank since he got authority to appoint or remove the governor and members of the rate-setting committee.

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Princeton-educated Erkan was appointed following Erdogan’s reelection. Along with Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, she’s has been trying to implement a more mainstream economic policy that includes aggressively raising rates to combat inflation, which accelerated to 65% in annual terms last month.

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