The minister who is a record-holder for denials

There is no minister who issues as many "denials" as Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek. The minister who holds the record for "denials" is, by a wide margin, Mehmet Şimşek. Within approximately one month, four denials have come from the Ministry of Treasury and Finance regarding news reports:

March 28: The newspaper Sözcü wrote in an article titled "Şimşek's partner will break Çamlıbel for 4 billion" that the company of Abdurrahman Reşitoğlu had won the tunnel tender. The ministry's statement said, "The report is a forced piece of journalism that carries an effort to create a perception through the way it is written." It was argued that "a company partnership formed for the renovation of an apartment in London in 2021, when he did not hold a ministerial position, cannot be associated with every tender the individual receives."

April 2: The newspaper Nefes claimed in an article titled "This is how Minister Mehmet Şimşek criticized industrialists at the ISO meeting: Stop talking here and there" that Mehmet Şimşek told industrialists, "Stop giving off negative energy." The ministry's statement said, "This is not journalistic activity; it is entirely an effort to smear," and emphasized that no source was cited in the report and the ministry was not contacted for verification.

April 5: Reuters reported on the meeting between Mehmet Şimşek and Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan with foreign investors in London, stating, "An interest rate hike may come at the MPC meeting on April 22," and conveyed the impressions of those attending the meeting regarding an interest rate hike. The ministry's statement emphasized that Mehmet Şimşek, as a matter of principle, "never" comments on interest rate policy in any domestic or international meeting, and that the impressions in the report do not bind the Minister.

April 12: In the Sözcü report titled "139 tons of gold evaporated in 3 months," it was stated that "gold reserves belonging to the state treasury and the Central Bank have decreased" and that "there are critical changes in the Central Bank's foreign exchange reserves." The ministry's statement argued that "the decrease in the Treasury's gold assets was handled with erroneous interpretations stemming from a lack of technical knowledge." It was argued that "a revision was made in the gold-denominated domestic borrowing strategy" and that "the roll-over ratio was consciously kept at the 76 percent level."

Statements do not answer the questions

The common feature of these statements from Şimşek's ministry is that they do not eliminate all the question marks regarding the reports. Long sentences are constructed, the journalists who wrote them are accused, but not all of the information presented by the reports is answered; only a part of the report is highlighted and answered, and it is presented as if the whole thing has been addressed.

For example, it is not understood why it was deemed necessary to state that the impressions in the Reuters report do not bind Şimşek, even though it was stated that they were the impressions of the investors.

The Sözcü report, which simply wrote down the balance sheet items without commentary, is challenged as an "interpretation error."

While the allegation of a partnership with Abdurrahman Reşitoğlu in the Nefes report is answered, the issue that the partnership, which was stated to have been established for the purchase of a residence in London, still continues in the trade registry records is not clarified. Furthermore, in previous reports, a photograph of Minister Şimşek taken on a private jet with Selman and Abdurrahman Reşitoğlu, as well as other photos showing they were close, had been published.

However, the statement that the information obtained regarding the closed meeting at the ISO Assembly in the Nefes report should also have been verified from the source is correct. Indeed, the newspaper did not stand behind its first report and published the statement under the headline "A sincere meeting was held with industrialists."

No denial for Yeni Şafak

But what is truly striking is that Mehmet Şimşek avoids direct denials regarding Yeni Şafak, which directly targets him. Even the headline of Yeni Şafak on March 31, "Why does Şimşek want this authority," was denied not by the ministry, but by MASAK with a statement.

Yesterday, Yeni Şafak came out with the headline "Şimşek's anti-inflation program has collapsed," and again there was no sound from Mehmet Şimşek or his ministry; no statement was made.

Even after such harsh publications from them, Mehmet Şimşek avoided entering into an open fight; he could not even respond, let alone deny the headline of Yeni Şafak.

I do not know if it is because of the Albayrak Group's close relationship with the AKP and the government, or because they have become a major economic power, but it is clear that Mehmet Şimşek cannot get the better of Yeni Şafak...