Yılmaz Özdil tells the story of Hafize Gaye Erkan: 'Her father was saying on the phone, 'Nepotism is Turkey's shame...''

Journalist Yılmaz Özdil shared striking information about Hafize Gaye Erkan in his column in Sözcü newspaper today.

Recounting Erkan's story, Özdil stated that in 2001, despite graduating from Boğaziçi University with honors, Erkan could not even find an unpaid internship, and that Erkan's father had called the newspaper where Özdil worked to complain about 'nepotism'.

Writing about the story of the Erkan family, who complained about nepotism and lack of merit at the time, Özdil reminded that Erkan was appointed by the US through nepotism to the "Investment and Finance Office," which was announced to have been established in the Official Gazette recently.

The full text of Özdil's article is as follows:

"It was 24 years ago, in 2001, and everything started with an angry father calling the newspaper where I worked... He was a father complaining about nepotism and the lack of merit. Since the subject was education, they connected him to our education reporter. He was fuming, saying, 'We trust you, we only trust journalists like you.' You know, there are ambitious fathers; they see their children's success as their own success, they act as if their child is still in elementary school even when they turn 50, and they speak on behalf of the child, and so on; he was such a father. He was explaining that his daughter had graduated from Boğaziçi University with honors, but that she couldn't even find a company to intern at, even though she didn't want a salary, meaning it was free. He was explaining that such jobs were handled through nepotism, and that all doors in Turkey were being slammed in his daughter's face because they didn't use nepotism. The father was an engineer himself, he was well-off, they lived on Bağdat Street, and he had a wide circle of acquaintances, but he said he was an 'idealist person' and therefore rebelled against nepotism.

As an idealist, he was shouting on the phone, 'Write about it in the newspaper, brother,' saying, 'Nepotism is Turkey's shame,' and he was right; he was saying, 'They are putting nepotism ahead of merit,' and he was absolutely right; he was saying, 'Even though I have the means, I will not use nepotism for my daughter,' and 'I will not find an internship position through nepotism by crushing my daughter's success.' And he wanted to meet in person to explain his concerns in more detail. Well, when it comes to education, everything stops for us, it is more important than all other news; our reporter immediately jumped into the newspaper's car with this feeling, went to their house on Bağdat Street, talked to that successful young girl, her father who called the newspaper, and her mother, and conducted a well-organized interview.

Our young girl had packed her suitcase and was going to the US, but she wanted to tell the newspaper about what she had been through before leaving; she didn't want to let anyone get away with it, she was hurt. 'I was disappointed in Turkey, the state did not support me,' she said. 'They even rejected my unpaid internship application; neither a Turkish company nor an investment institution supported me,' she said. She gave a striking example: 'I wanted to participate in a competition in England, I couldn't even find the money for a 300-dollar plane ticket, no one even sponsored me,' she said. 'I packed my suitcase with the hope of going to England, I waited for days crying, no one sponsored me, no one supported me,' she said. She kept on telling her story.

'I wanted to do a PhD in Turkey, but universities always give priority to the relatives of someone,' she said. 'I will definitely return one day to put an end to this nepotism and to serve my country,' she said. To tell you the truth, it was a family that talked about money more than necessary... For example, they never mentioned why they insisted on having someone else pay for the 300-dollar plane ticket, even though they lived on Bağdat Street. They didn't say which Turkish companies they applied to for an internship and which ones rejected them, they didn't say which Turkish universities they applied to for a PhD and which ones didn't accept them. Without giving names, they were painting a general picture of nepotism, and by saying, 'We are forced to go to the US, to exile, because we cannot cope with the lack of merit,' they wanted to expose what happened to them to the public through the most widely read newspaper in Turkey at that time.

As I said, even though they were a family that talked about money more than necessary, the concept of nepotism is always a gangrene in Turkey, and the lack of merit is always a disease of this country; therefore, at least to fight against favoritism, we made a news story about this girl's situation. And we made it a front-page headline with a photo so that the widest possible audience could see it. It is in the 2001 archives; we made it a front-page headline in Star newspaper with the title 'Turk, Be Proud, Work, Do Not Trust.' In the continuation of this headline story on the inside page, we used the photo of her father, who called the newspaper and informed us. In fact, after a while, I left Star newspaper, but our friends who stayed there did not let go of the story, they followed up on it, they looked to see if she really went, and four years later they made it a headline again; that girl had really gone to the US, completed her PhD at Princeton, and started working with a salary of 15 thousand dollars a month, and upon this, they made it a headline again with the title 'Good for You.'

We thought the story had a happy ending, but it hadn't actually ended; in fact, it was just beginning... The young girl we made a headline about started working at Goldman Sachs, worked there for years, then joined First Republic Bank, rose and rose in that bank, became CEO, then left that bank, and in fact, that bank went bankrupt, she became a board member at the jeweler Tiffany, left there too, and just as she said 'I will definitely return one day' years ago, she returned and became the president of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, becoming the first female president of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Yes, that ambitious father who called the newspaper in 2001 and angrily complained about the state and Turkish companies was Hafize Gaye Erkan's father! The rest is history...

With the title of Central Bank president, she started giving strange interviews to the pro-government media; she explained that she couldn't rent a house in Istanbul because it was more expensive than New York, that she moved into her mother's house, and that she asked the apartment doorman, Sadık, about market prices, and so on. Before long, news broke that her father was interfering in everything at the Central Bank as if he were an executive, that a private room was allocated to her father, that an official vehicle was allocated, and that her father had staff he was annoyed with fired. Well, when these things became public, she had to resign, saying, 'I was subjected to character assassination.' Despite her resignation, an official statement was made saying she was 'dismissed.' The fairy tale had lasted only seven months. The father and daughter, whom we made a front-page headline in 2001, were hurt again, and full of anger again. But this time, instead of packing their suitcases and going to the US, they chose to stay in Turkey. It was beyond strange that the president of the great Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey was sitting idle while she should have been snapped up by national or international companies, but that's what happened; she had been sitting like that for a year. That sad girl, who told the newspaper 24 years ago that no company would accept her even though she wanted to do an unpaid internship, was experiencing the same helplessness again; the only difference this time was that it wasn't even being reported as news. Until last week... Last week, the rumor mill suddenly kicked in, and her name started to be whispered in Ankara's corridors again.

Why? The reason is this... Trump, who started to design the world economy with customs duties, appointed his close friend, dollar billionaire real estate agent Tom Barrack, as the US ambassador to Turkey. Another important feature of Tom Barrack, a venture capitalist who buys and sells real estate on the verge of foreclosure and often works as a 'partner' with Qatar and the Qatar sovereign wealth fund, for us was that he was a board member at First Republic Bank during the same period as Gaye Erkan. Before long, a decree was published in the Official Gazette simultaneously, and the 'Investment and Finance Office' was established. Well, the rumors exploded. It started to be talked about that the White House, which sent real estate agent friend Tom Barrack as ambassador, was also imposing the ambassador's colleague, Gaye Erkan, on our palace. It started to be talked about that the ambitious and hurt father and daughter would not be in charge of the central bank, but this time the entire economy.

Isn't life interesting... You make a 'nepotism' news story 24 years ago to fight against the lack of merit, you report that we are losing our educated youth to the US because of the 'nepotism' gangrene in Turkey, and 24 years later, the same US sends the same young person to us with 'nepotism'!

Life is truly interesting... I wonder, for example, while our government, which has the backing of the White House's nepotism, is happy about appointing trustees to the opposition, is the same White House that says 'I love Erdoğan' appointing a trustee to our government?"

News Source: 12punto