Berat Albayrak ( born 21 February 1978) is a Turkish businessman and politician, and the son-in-law of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He is a former CEO of Çalık Holding. He was a member of parliament from Istanbul in the 25th, 26th and 27th legislative sessions. He served as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in the 64th and 65th government of Turkey and was the Minister of Finance and Treasury in the 66th government until his unexpected resignation on 8 November 2020 citing health reasons. His resignation was officially accepted on 9 November and he was succeeded by Lütfi Elvan on 10 November. In 2004, he married the daughter of Turkish president Erdoğan. Albayrak has been accused of involvement in oil production and smuggling in the Islamic State.
Early life
Berat Albayrak was born on 21 February 1978, the son of Sadık Albayrak, a journalist and politician, and Kıymet Albayrak.
Albayrak is a graduate of Özel Fatih Koleji (High School) in Istanbul. He graduated from the business department of Istanbul University. He continued his education in New York City, where he earned a master's degree at Pace University's Lubin School of Business. Albayrak received a PhD degree from Kadir Has University in 2011. Albayrak received a PhD degree in the field of banking and finance with a dissertation about "Financing Renewable Energy Resources". His thesis advisor was Erişah Arıcan, who sits on the boards of the Turkey Wealth Fund and the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange. It has been alleged that she wrote his PhD thesis.
His brother Serhat also had a senior position in Çalık Holding.
Business career
Albayrak began his career in business in 1996.
Çalık Holding
In 1999, Albayrak started working for Çalık Holding, in various positions in its Turkish and foreign subsidiaries. In 2002, Albayrak became the financial director of the US office of Çalık Holding, while studying for an MBA at the Lubin School of Business, Pace University in New York City. In 2004, Albayrak was appointed as the US country manager of Çalık Holding.
Upon his return to Turkey in 2006, Albayrak first served as the assistant general manager of financial affairs in Çalık Holding. He became the CEO in 2007, and was also made director of various subsidiaries. Albayrak was CEO of Çalık Holding until late 2013.
Educational foundations
Albayrak was the chairman of BTİ Educational Institutions, which he founded in April 2014. In October 2014, he established the Nun Education and Culture Foundation, with Serhat Albayrak and Ömer Faruk Kalyoncu.
Other activities
Albayrak gave lectures on banking and finance at Marmara University, and wrote a column for daily newspaper Sabah from 2008 until 2015.
Political career
Domestic politics
Albayrak became a Member of Parliament for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after the June 2015 Turkish general election. At the 5th Ordinary Congress of the AK Party held on September 12, 2015, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was re-elected party leader of the AKP, while Berat Albayrak was elected to the Central Decision Executive Board (MKYK) and became part of the party's management. Albayrak was re-elected as Member of Parliament in the November 2015 Turkish general election.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
On 24 November 2015, he was appointed Minister for Energy and Natural Resources in the 64th Government of Turkey under the premiership of Ahmet Davutoğlu.
Amid his tenure as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Turkey's medium and long-term energy policies were arranged. It was called the “National Energy and Mine Strategy Paper”. Numerous pioneering energy projects were conducted in these terms, such as putting Turkey's first floating storage and regasification unit into service, making 1000 MW of the world's largest wind and solar tender upon domestic manufacture and R&D, setting in motion Turkey's first drilling vessel, achieving a mining land drilling depth of 1 million meters and declaring the National Boron Strategy. His tenure as energy minister saw power companies run up billions of dollars in debts as they borrowed cash to fund buyouts and expansion, while government caps on energy prices also eroded their bottom lines; the energy sector is believed to have contributed to the Turkish currency and debt crisis of 2018. He was reelected on 24 June 2018 to parliament under a new constitution.