AK Party deputy chair Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya resigns after stock trading claims

AK Party deputy chair for social policies Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya has resigned, asking party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to relieve her of all her duties following allegations over stock market gains.

Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, the AK Party’s deputy chair responsible for social policies, resigned on the evening of September 26. The former family and social policies minister said in a written statement that she had asked party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to relieve her of all her duties so the allegations against her could be fully clarified.

Her resignation came hours after Yeni Party spokesman Zeynel Emre claimed at a district congress in Istanbul’s Bahçelievler that Sayan Kaya invested 63.36 million lira in shares of Özata Denizcilik in April and withdrew 1.344 billion lira after selling them in September. Emre also alleged that her husband, İlyas Kaya, invested 99.69 million lira and withdrew 826 million lira.

The claims emerged as the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office continues investigations into capital market transactions involving investment funds. In her statement, Sayan Kaya said she considered it necessary to take “political and moral responsibility.”