AK Party Deputy Chair Resigns Amid Share Trading Allegations in Turkey

A deputy chair of Turkey's ruling AK Party has stepped down following allegations that she and her husband made a substantial profit from share trades shortly before a crisis in the country's investment fund industry sparked a major market selloff.

Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, who oversaw social policies for the party and served as family minister between 2016 and 2018, said late on Saturday that she had asked President Tayyip Erdogan to relieve her of all her duties so the allegations could be investigated. In a statement on X, she said she considered it necessary to take political responsibility while the claims were examined. She did not address the specifics of the allegation.

The accusation was made earlier on Saturday by Zeynel Emre, a spokesman for the main opposition Yeni Party, who alleged at a press conference that Kaya and her husband, Ilyas Kaya, invested a combined 163 million lira (about $3.3 million) in April, mainly in shares of shipbuilder Ozata Denizcilik. He claimed they later received roughly 2.17 billion lira (about $44 million) from selling those shares.

According to the allegation, Ozata Denizcilik shares traded at around 220 lira at the start of April and climbed to 4,980 lira by September 15. The following day, suspected share-price manipulation in thinly traded stocks triggered a liquidity crisis and sent prices tumbling. Emre said the timing of the transactions raised questions.

Turkish authorities moved last week to shore up financial stability after some investment funds failed to meet withdrawal requests from nearly half a million investors amid the selloff.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, Ozata Denizcilik said its chairman, Ozdemir Ataseven, and vice chairman, Gokhan Ataseven, had been jailed pending trial as part of an ongoing investigation into the funds crisis.