President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law and former minister Berat Albayrak appeared in front of the cameras for the first time since his resignation in 2020 with his wife, Esra, and called on people to attend an anti-Israel rally in İstanbul on New Year’s Day.
Albayrak stepped down as head of the finance ministry in an unexpected move in November 2020, citing health reasons. His resignation was accepted by Erdoğan after hours of silence from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and pro-government media outlets.
He has been out of the public eye since then.
Yeni yılın ilk mesajı:
Mehmetçiklerimizin ve Gazze'deki şehitlerimizin acısını paylaşmak
ve bu zulme karşı dik duruşumuzu göstermek için Adresimiz Galata Köprüsü pic.twitter.com/lRo88F5bbQ— TürkiyeGençlikVakfı (@tugvaTR) December 28, 2023
The Albayraks, in a video message posted on the X account of the pro-government Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA), called on everyone to attend a rally on İstanbul’s Galata Bridge at 8:30 a.m. on January 1 “to share the pain of the martyrs in Gaza and fallen [Turkish] soldiers]” and “to stand against oppression.”
Turkey lost 12 soldiers last week in attacks on its bases in northern Iraq by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community.
Berat Albayrak called the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza a “genocide” that is almost being “broadcast live” before the eyes of the world, while Esra Albayrak accused Israel of systematically killing children.
“No nonsense ideology can justify this horrendous genocide,” Esra said, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government officials should be tried before international courts for “crimes against humanity.”
The invitation to the rally, which appears at the end of the video, features Turkish and Palestinian flags with the photos of İstanbul’s Galata Tower and the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, with a note saying, “Mercy to our martyrs, support to Palestine, damn Israel.”
Berat Albayrak, who was appointed finance minister in 2018, has frequently been blamed for the deterioration of the Turkish economy as a decline in the value of the Turkish lira, nearly 30 percent in 2020, led to higher inflation via imports priced in hard currencies.
Erdoğan’s other son-in-law, Selçuk Bayraktar, chairman of Turkish defense contractor Baykar, has also taken part in anti-Israel rallies since Israel began pounding Gaza after an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on Israel on October 7.
Erdoğan, one of the strongest supporters of the Palestinian cause, lashed out repeatedly at Israel for the scale of death and destruction caused by its response to Hamas’s October 7 cross-border attack.
He has branded Israel a “terrorist state” and Netanyahu “the butcher of Gaza” while calling Hamas “a liberation group.”
Recent reports by investigative journalists have revealed that Turkish companies with links to Erdoğan’s family and government continue their commerce with Israel, carrying cargo to Israeli ports at the height of the conflict, which has led many to question Erdoğan’s anti-Israel rhetoric.
