An “unfounded” news story targeting her, her family and Turkey’s central bank was “unacceptable”, the regulator's governor Hafize Gaye Erkan (@hafizegayeerkan) wrote on January 18 in a tweet.

She said she would exercise her legal rights against those responsible.

Screenshot: Erkan opted for no replies from the public to her tweet.

The story that prompted Erkan's digruntled response was published by daily newspaper Sozcu. It included an official submission filed by Busra Bozkurt, a former central bank employee. 

Bozkurt’s petition.

Bozkurt claimed in a petition filed at the Presidential Communications Center (CIMER) that she was wrongfully fired by Erkan's father, Erol Erkan.

What does it all mean?

The financial media is presenting the affair as an attack on Erkan's "orthodox" economic policies that reverse moves made by the administration that have driven foreign investors away from Turkey. But it is no such thing.

The document in question was "leaked" to Sozcu, often described as an "opposition daily". If the Turkey watcher has any grasp of the course of "leaks" and the roads taken by "opposition dailies" in the country, the affair actually comes across as more like just another case of plain old jostling among the gangs that make up the Erdogan regime, rather than some kind of conspiracy put together to bring about the downfall of the turn to the "orthodox" policies.

Trolls that back Berat Albayrak (remember him?) have been putting it about that the document is real. They are also circulating the suggestion that Erkan’s deputy, Cevdet Akcay, is possibly in line to replace her. The financial media label Akcay as "orthodox’ too".

Albayrak, let's recall, is a son-in-law of Turkey’s president of more than two decades, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He served as finance minister, but that did not end well at all. Since his demise, Albayrak has been searching the horizon for comeback opportunities. His proxies in the Turkish state apparatus and pro-Albayrak trolls in the media and on social media, meanwhile, remain rather active, taking part in intra-regime jostling for influence and position whenever they can.

This publication usually passes up chances to cover the "gangs" and their jostling. They are rarely worth the time of day. They operate in a real cesspool. There are so many rumours, you would need a dedicated newsroom to explain whom the characters are and what the heck they are on about.

It is far better to simply focus on any tangible results that emerge from what is in play, rather than diving into the cesspool. When there is some joy to be had from covering a certain scandal, we shall make sure to put in the legwork. But Turkey is fertile ground for scandal lovers. We cannot keep up with all of the tittle-tattle, all of the aspersions, backbiting and ignominy. This is a movie that's running 7/24.

If Erkan makes the mistake of exercising her legal rights, the ensuing trial will indeed deliver an entertaining episode. 

Yet it would not have any impact on the country's monetary policy or Erkan’s position at the helm. All we have here is another tabloid story that distracts from the tragedy that is modern-day Turkey.

Erkan’s adventures

Turkey never has suffered from a lack of colourful bureaucrats and politicians. And though she is still a mere rookie on the stage, Erkan’s story and performance so far has already guaranteed her a place among the unforgettables.

As soon as the ex-Wall St banker was appointed last June, media reports focused in on how she had been named in a US class action lawsuit brought by the City of Hollywood Police Officers’ Pension Fund against former officials of the failed First Republic Bank.

Then, in December, Erkan gave a tragically bad interview to an Erdogan regime hack, who came up with a PR piece that gives you the "ick". Google Translate might help here in measuring up how much of a disaster it was.

After the governor stated during the interview that she'd opted to move in with her mother since Istanbul real estate prices were too high, her mother became an item on the agenda of the Turkish media.

With the introduction of the father into the soap, the Erkan family currently has a full squad grabbing the headlines.