Hafize Gaye Erkan served for approximately 8 months, will receive salary for 2 years
CBRT Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, who remained in the spotlight due to allegations regarding her family, resigned by requesting to be relieved of her duties. While the fact that Erkan, who was removed from office according to the decision published in the Official Gazette, will continue to receive a salary for another 2 years has sparked controversy, former CBRT Governor Durmuş Yılmaz made assessments on the subject.
12punto
Hafize Gaye Erkan, the first female governor appointed to the Central Bank in the new term under the leadership of Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek, requested to be "relieved of her duties" after 7 months and 23 days. Following the "relief" from duty, which has been a topic of discussion before, the question of whether salary payments will continue has come to the agenda once again.
The issue of salary payments to departing governors, which Durmuş Yılmaz, who served as the Central Bank governor between 2006-2011, had previously brought up in the Planning and Budget Committee, came to mind. According to the report in Cumhuriyet, Durmuş Yılmaz pointed out that while there is a regulation for the BRSA chairman because they cannot work in banks whether they are removed from office or complete their term, there is no such regulation in the Central Bank Law, and he recalled his question in the minutes:
“There are currently three governors who were removed from office one after another before their terms expired. They were not appointed to any public office. I am asking this for the record because this issue will be investigated in the future, just as the investigation into the 128 billion in reserves will be conducted. Murat Çetinkaya, Murat Uysal, Naci Ağbal, and the current governor. Are they currently receiving a salary or not?”
Yılmaz recalled the response given by the Central Bank to this question as follows:
“It is possible for all public officials, not just those at the Central Bank, to receive their former salaries for two years after being removed from office, in accordance with the additional Article 35 of Decree-Law No. 375.”
In other words, all senior public officials appointed by a presidential decree today and subsequently removed from office fall within this scope.
WILL BE ABLE TO RECEIVE SALARY FOR TWO MORE YEARS
The terms of office for Central Bank governors are set at four years in Presidential Decree No. 3, regarding the appointment of senior public officials. However, according to the additional Article 35 of Decree-Law No. 375, they can be removed from office if their performance is deemed insufficient, to use the phrasing of the Decree-Law. After being removed from office, it is possible for them to receive their former salaries for two years, again in accordance with the additional Article 35 of this Decree-Law No. 375.