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Erdoğan appoints former minister to the helm of Turkish economy

Turkish Development Minister Lütfi Elvan (Aytac Unal / Anadolu Agency)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday appointed former transport and development minister Lütfi Elvan to replace his son-in-law Berat Albayrak as the country’s finance minister.

In an unexpected move on Sunday, Albayrak stepped down from his post, citing health reasons in a statement made public on his verified Instagram account. His resignation was accepted by Erdoğan on Monday evening after hours of silence from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

Elvan, 58, who served as the country’s transport minister between 2013 and 2015 and development minister between 2016 and 2018, said his appointment as finance minister came as a surprise to him. He said he spoke to Albayrak on the phone and that there would be no handover ceremony due to Albayrak’s health problems.

Following his resignation, Albayrak’s Instagram account was inactivated, as was his Twitter account, which was deleted before he announced his resignation.

The unexpected resignation of Albayrak came shortly after Erdoğan dismissed the head of Turkey’s central bank, Murat Uysal, and replaced him with former finance minister Naci Ağbal as the Turkish lira hit record lows over the last few weeks.

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