The first name Mehmet Şimşek proposed to replace Hafize Gaye Erkan has been revealed

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (TCMB)'s first female governor, Hafize Gaye Erkan, requested to be relieved of her duties, stating that she had been the subject of a 'character assassination'.

TCMB MPC Member Fatih Karahan was appointed in Erkan's place. 10 Haber columnist Barış Soydan wrote about the behind-the-scenes details of the high-level change at the Central Bank.

Stating that it is being discussed that Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek had proposed Central Bank Deputy Governor Cevdet Akçay to AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but had to embrace the name Fatih Karahan once it came to the fore, Soydan continued as follows:

'CEVDET AKÇAY IS NOT A NAME CLOSE TO THE AKP'

"It is clear that Prof. Dr. Cevdet Akçay is a much more senior economist than Fatih Karahan. Fatih Karahan's area of expertise is labor markets; the academic articles he has published are related to this. Cevdet Akçay's area of expertise, on the other hand, is directly monetary policy.

(Cevdet Akçay)

If Akçay had been appointed, the stock market would undoubtedly have had an enthusiastic start to the week today. But it didn't happen, because Akçay is not a name close to the AKP; he worked in Koç Group institutions for many years in the past (as chief economist at Yapı Kredi and as a faculty member at Koç University).

'YOU HAVE TO BE BLIND NOT TO SEE IT'

Fatih Karahan, on the other hand, is the nephew of former AKP deputy and until recently Washington Ambassador Murat Mercan, and a relative of Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar. In other words, he is from the family. One would have to be blind not to see that this is the reason why he, and not Akçay, was preferred for the Central Bank governorship."

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