Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, deputy chair of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party and a former family and social policy minister, resigned from her party leadership role on 28 September amid allegations over share trading, according to a Euronews report. Her resignation came as authorities continued a wide-ranging investigation into suspected share-price manipulation at several Turkish investment funds.
Allegations Over Timing of Trades
Opposition figures alleged that Kaya and her husband invested roughly €1.1 million in shares of a shipbuilding company in April and later sold the stake for about €23.3 million shortly before a market plunge in mid-September, raising questions about the timing of the trades, the report said. Turkish stocks fell sharply on 15-16 September amid the manipulation allegations, which affected 131 investment funds across seven asset management firms holding assets reportedly worth more than $18 billion and involving over 450,000 investors.
Asset Freezes Lifted, Arrests Continue
Authorities lifted asset freezes on 45 companies and 19 funds as part of the unwinding of the crisis, the report said, while at least 45 people have been arrested in connection with the investigation. Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said the government was focused on protecting investment and employment while legal proceedings against those implicated in market distortion continue. Regulators separately placed seven fund management companies into liquidation as part of the response to the crisis.
A Rare Political Casualty
Kaya, who served as family and social policy minister between 2016 and 2018, had been one of the more senior women in Erdogan’s AK Party leadership, and her resignation marks one of the highest-profile political departures linked to the fund crisis so far. She has not publicly detailed her account of the trading allegations against her and her husband.
Why It Matters
The resignation of a senior ruling-party figure over trading allegations, even as denied or disputed, marks a rare instance of political accountability within Erdogan’s AK Party leadership. The scale of the underlying fund crisis, affecting hundreds of thousands of Turkish investors, also raises broader questions about oversight of the country’s investment fund industry.
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