Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan learned about the resignation of former finance Minister Berat Albayrak, who is also his son-in-law, from social media, according to journalist İsmail Saymaz.
On Nov.8 Albayrak announced his resignation as the country’s treasury and finance minister in a statement posted on his Instagram account.
The pro-government media outlets in Turkey staged a blackout on the news until an official statement was made by the presidency the next day in which it was announced that Erdoğan had accepted Albayrak’s resignation.
Speaking on a Tuesday program on Halk TV, Saymaz said, based on his sources, that Albayrak did not submit his resignation directly to Erdoğan, unlike Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who resigned in April but first handed in his resignation to Erdoğan before announcing it on social media. Erdoğan declined to accept Soylu’s resignation.
“This is a first in the history of our country. Some of us saw the resignation before the president did,” said Saymaz.
Albayrak, 42, who has been serving as Turkey’s treasury and finance minister since July 2018, said in his resignation statement: “I have decided that I can no longer continue to carry out the tasks of minister as I have for the past five years due to health reasons.” He said he would spend more time with his family.
Albayrak served as the country’s energy minister between 2015 and 2018.