Türkiye's central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan resigned on Friday, citing a need to protect her family amid a "reputation assassination", and she was swiftly replaced by a deputy who is expected to carry on her tight policy stance.
President Tayyip Erdogan - who hired Erkan eight months ago to pivot away from years of inflation-fuelling low interest rates to a more orthodox policy - named Deputy Governor Fatih Karahan to take the reins, the Official Gazette said early on Saturday, two hours after the surprise resignation.
Karahan, a former Federal Reserve Bank of New York economist, was appointed deputy in July and is seen as a capable successor who played a big role in engineering the monetary tightening.
Erkan, a former US bank executive, began raising rates when she was appointed in June, launching a 180-degree pivot away from years of low rates under Erdogan that had sent inflation soaring and foreign investors fleeing.
Since then the central bank had hiked its key rate to 45% from 8.5%. Last week, after another 250 basis-point rise, it said it had tightened enough to achieve disinflation, signalling a halt.
Erkan said that "our economic program has started to bear fruit", citing rising foreign reserves and expectations that inflation will begin cooling around mid-year "as proof of this success".
"Despite all these positive developments, as is known to the public, a major reputation assassination campaign has recently been organized against me," she added on social media platform X.
"In order to prevent my family and my innocent child, who is not even one and a half years old, from being further affected by this, I have asked our President to pardon me from my duty."
Last month, opposition newspaper Sozcu published an article about a central bank employee who said she was wrongfully dismissed from the bank by Erkan's father.
In response at the time, Erkan said that an "unfounded" news story targeting her, her family and the bank was "unacceptable" and vowed to exercise her legal rights against those responsible.
