Berat Albayrak facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Berat Albayrak
Minister of Treasury and Finance
In office 10 July 2018 – 10 November 2020
President	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Preceded by	Naci Ağbal
Succeeded by	Lütfi Elvan
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
In office 24 November 2015 – 10 July 2018
Prime Minister	Ahmet Davutoğlu Binali Yıldırım
Preceded by	Ali Rıza Alaboyun
Succeeded by	Fatih Dönmez
Member of the Grand National Assembly
In office 7 June 2015 – 10 July 2018
Constituency	Istanbul (I) (June 2015, Nov 2015, 2018)
Personal details
Born	(1978-02-21) 21 February 1978 (age 47) Istanbul, Turkey
Political party	Justice and Development Party
Spouse	Esra Erdoğan ​ (m. 2004)​
Children	4
Parents	Sadık Albayrak Kıymet Albayrak
Relatives	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (father-in-law) Emine Erdoğan (mother-in-law)
Alma mater	Istanbul University Pace University Kadir Has University

Berat Albayrak (born February 21, 1978) is a Turkish businessman and politician. He served as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources from 2015 to 2018. Later, he became the Minister of Treasury and Finance from 2018 to 2020. He was also a member of parliament for Istanbul, representing the Justice and Development Party. Berat Albayrak is married to Esra Erdoğan, who is the daughter of Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Early Life and Education

Berat Albayrak was born in Istanbul, Turkey, on February 21, 1978. His father is Sadık Albayrak and his mother is Kıymet Albayrak. His family originally comes from a town called Dernekpazarı in Trabzon. He went to Fındıkzade Elementary School and Fatih Boys' High School for his early education.

In 2004, Berat Albayrak married Esra Albayrak. She is the oldest daughter of Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They have four children together: three sons named Ahmet Akif, Sadık Eymen, and Hamza Salih, and one daughter named Emine Mahinur.

Berat Albayrak studied Business Administration at Istanbul University, graduating in 1999. He then earned a master's degree in finance from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York in 2004. In 2011, he completed his PhD at Kadir Has University. His PhD research focused on how to finance renewable energy projects for electricity.

Career Journey

Berat Albayrak started his professional career in 1996. In 1999, he joined a company called Çalık Holding. He worked in different roles there. From 2002 to 2006, he was the finance director for the company's office in the United States.

When he returned to Turkey in 2006, he became the deputy general manager for financial affairs. In 2007, he was promoted to general manager. During his time at Çalık Holding, he helped the company raise a lot of money. For example, in 2007, he helped manage a bond sale that brought in about $1 billion. He also helped bring nearly $1 billion in foreign investment to Turkey between 2007 and 2008.

At the end of 2013, Berat Albayrak left the private business world. He started writing for the Sabah newspaper. He also taught Banking and Finance at Marmara University and worked with different non-profit groups.

Political Roles

Berat Albayrak officially entered politics in 2015. He became a member of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (Turkey's parliament). He represented Istanbul for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) after the elections on June 7, 2015.

In September 2015, he joined the AKP's main decision-making board. After the elections in November 2015, he was appointed as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. He held this position in two different governments. In 2017, he was again appointed to the AKP's main decision-making board.

After Turkey changed its government system to a presidential one in 2017, Berat Albayrak was appointed as the Minister of Treasury and Finance. This happened after the 2018 general elections. He also took on other important roles, like being the deputy chairman of the Turkey Wealth Fund and a member of the Defense Industry Executive Committee. He also became a member of the Supreme Military Council. On November 8, 2020, he resigned from his role as Minister of Treasury and Finance due to health reasons.

Energy Ministry Achievements

During Berat Albayrak's time as Minister of Energy, many important projects were started. For the first time, Turkey collected special data from the air over a large area to find energy resources. They also drilled the country's first deep well, going down 4,500 meters. These efforts helped the Turkey Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) increase oil production significantly.

He also helped Turkey get its own drilling ships: Fatih, Yavuz, and Kanuni. The Fatih ship made a huge discovery of natural gas in the Black Sea. This gas is worth about 1 trillion US dollars, which is a massive amount!

Under his leadership, the foundation for the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant was laid in 2018. This power plant is designed to produce a lot of electricity, enough to meet 10% of Turkey's needs. It is considered the biggest project in Turkey's history, with a total cost of 20 billion US dollars.

The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) was also completed during this period. This long pipeline carries natural gas to Turkey and also to Europe. Another project was the Turkish Stream pipeline, which brings natural gas from Russia directly to Turkey. This helped Turkey become an important country for distributing natural gas.

In 2018, he also helped start the Bandırma Boron Carbide Production Facility. This facility processes boron, a mineral, for use in defense industries. It began operating in 2023. As part of a national energy plan, he also oversaw projects to develop 10,000 MW of wind energy and 10,000 MW of solar energy. New coal exploration also added 5 billion tons of coal to Turkey's energy reserves.

Treasury and Finance Ministry Achievements

As Minister of Treasury and Finance, Berat Albayrak worked to improve Turkey's economy. He introduced plans to fight inflation, which is when prices go up too much. He managed to reduce inflation from about 25% to less than 10% within a year. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation stayed around 11%.

When he started, Turkey had a large current account deficit, meaning the country was spending more money abroad than it was earning. He managed to turn this around, and by the end of 2019, Turkey had a current account surplus of 5.3 billion dollars.

In 2020, public banks offered very affordable housing loans. This helped many people with lower and middle incomes buy homes. A very important step was bringing Turkey's gold reserves back home. About 350 tons of gold, which were kept in other countries like the United States, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, were returned to Turkey. The Central Bank's gold reserves increased significantly during his time.

When he took office in June 2018, the Central Bank's reserves were 98.4 billion dollars. By November 2020, they were 85.2 billion dollars, showing the impact of the pandemic. However, in 2020, Turkey's economy still grew by 1.8%. This was impressive because most countries' economies shrank during the pandemic. Turkey was one of only two G20 countries, along with China, to show growth.

His ministry's debt management team was even recognized internationally. A magazine called GlobalCapital named them the "Public Debt Management Office of the Year" globally. During his time, Berat Albayrak also met with U.S. president Donald Trump to discuss important topics between their countries.

Personal Life

Berat Albayrak is married to Esra Erdoğan, who is the oldest daughter of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They have four children together.

Book

Berat Albayrak wrote a book called Burası Çok Önemli. In this book, he explains the economic ideas and plans he used when he was the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and the Minister of Treasury and Finance. The book uses examples and graphs to show how his strategies worked.

Awards

In October 2019, the U.K.-based business magazine GlobalCapital gave Turkey's Finance and Treasury Ministry an award. They were named the "Public Debt Management Office of the Year" globally for their "successful performance in debt management even during difficult times."