Special report | Friends and relations

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s relatives are becoming increasingly powerful

A government over-reliant on kith and kin

Berat Albayrak, Turkey's treasury and finance minster, gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018. Albayrak called on retailers Tuesday to cut prices in an attempt to rein in price gains after they climbed last month to around their fastest level in more than 15 years. Photographer: Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Image: Getty Images

ASK opposition politicians and former Justice and Development (AK) officials who is responsible for Turkey’s new economic model, and one name, Berat Albayrak, comes up a lot. Mr Albayrak took over the finance ministry in mid-2018 after a few years as energy minister. By the time of his shock resignation two years later, the central bank’s foreign reserves and its credibility were depleted, and the lira had lost nearly half its value. Yet his legacy lives on. Insiders say the finance ministry is still staffed by Mr Albayrak’s allies. Nureddin Nebati, now the finance minister, is a close friend. On his watch, the country has resumed Mr Albayrak’s policy of cutting rates to stoke growth while selling foreign reserves to support the lira.

This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “All in the family ”

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