Lira drops as Erdogan appoints son-in-law

TURKEY’S Recep Tayyip Erdogan ushered in the new, executive presidential system for which he has long campaigned by putting his son-in-law in charge of the economy.

Hours after he was sworn in at a ceremony in the capital of Ankara, Mr Erdogan named Berat Albayrak as the treasury and finance minister in his new cabinet.

The announcement – and the absence of familiar, market-friendly ministers from the cabinet – led to a sharp drop in the lira.

Mr Erdogan, the most popular and divisive leader in recent Turkish history, has fought to bring Islamic values back into public life and lift millions of pious Turks – who have been long ostracised by the secular elite – out of poverty.

“We are leaving behind the system that has in the past cost our country a heavy price in political and economic chaos,” Mr Erdogan said in an address late on Monday.