According to Reuters, the head of Turkey’s central bank, Hafiz Gaye Erkan, resigned on Friday, citing the need to protect his family during a “reputational assassination”.

Erkan, the first woman to head the central bank, is the fifth governor to leave the post in as many years after President Tayyip Erdogan fired the last four, undermining his independence.

Cabinet leaders were quick to say the economic program would continue after she left.

She was appointed by Erdogan in June to make a 180-degree U-turn after years of low interest rates that led to soaring inflation and a flight of foreign investors.

Since June, the central bank has raised the key interest rate from 8.5% to 45%. Last week, after another 250 basis point hike, it was said to have been tight enough to bring down inflation, signaling a pause.

Erkan, a former U.S. bank chief, said “our economic program has begun to bear fruit,” citing rising foreign exchange reserves and expectations that inflation will moderate in the middle of the year.

“Despite all these positive developments, as the public knows, there has recently been a massive smear campaign against me,” she added on social media platform X.

“So that this does not affect my family and my innocent child, who is not yet one and a half years old, I asked our president to release me from the debt,” she wrote.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said that Erkan’s resignation was her personal decision and the economic program will continue without interruption. Vice President of Turkey Cevdet Yilmaz is a follower of the current policy.

It was not clear who Erdogan would appoint in her place. In July, he named three vice-governors, whom analysts see as capable successors. The president’s office and the central bank did not comment on the issue.

Last month, the opposition newspaper Sozcu published an article about a central bank employee who said she was unfairly fired from the bank by Erkan’s father.

At the time, Erkan responded by saying that the “baseless” story against her, her family and the bank was “unacceptable” and vowed to defend her legal rights against those responsible.

Inflation neared 65% last month and is expected to start falling around June. Foreign investors, including some of the world’s biggest fund managers, began buying local Turkish bonds late last year in a sign of confidence in the program.

photo: DreamsTime / Francisco Javier Zea Lara