Berat Albayrak

On 9 July 2018, his father-in-law appointed him as economic chief of his new administration, in charge of a new ministry of treasury and finance, fueling investor unease about competence and orthodoxy of economic policymaking, with the Turkish lira losing 3.8 percent of its value within one hour after his appointment. Consequently, Albayrak had to resign from his position as deputy as the current Turkish constitution does not allow MPs to also be ministers.

With respect to the global Paradise Papers investigation, Albayrak in 2018 filed defamation lawsuits against award-winning journalist and International Consortium of Investigative Journalists member Pelin Ünker and her newspaper Cumhuriyet, not claiming factual errors or inaccuracies but seeking financial penalties for alleged damage to his reputation, after the newspaper in November 2017 published details on how politicians, multinational corporations and criminals had hidden money offshore and avoided taxes, including Albayrak-managed Çalık Holding and Albayrak's brother Serhat.

Albayrak has been accused by Russians and the Turkish opposition of having links to sale of oil by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant through Turkey. The lawyer of Albayrak dismissed the claims saying that "the allegations are totally false and wrongly attributed.” In December 2016, WikiLeaks released over 57,000 emails, from 2000 to 2016, allegedly obtained by RedHack that WikiLeaks stated were from Albayrak's personal emails, and which were alleged to link Albayrak with ISIL oil smuggling. The Independent reported that the emails showed that "Albayrak had intimate knowledge of staffing and salary issues at Powertrans, a company which was controversially given a monopoly on the road and rail transportation of oil into the country from Iraqi Kurdistan", adding that "Turkish media reported in 2014 and 2015 that Powertrans has been accused of mixing in oil produced by Isis in neighbouring Syria and adding it to local shipments which eventually reached Turkey". Albayrak had previously denied that he had any connection to Powertrans. In late 2016, John R. Bass, the US Ambassador to Turkey, said that claims about a Turkish government's involvement in ISIL oil trade were unfounded, citing the official apology issued by the CIA with regards to such allegations in 2014. From April 2017 to January 2020, Turkey authorities blocked access to Wikipedia across the country. In April 2018, it was claimed that this Wikipedia entry on Albayrak stating the alleged oil trade with ISIS was among the four articles which led to Wikipedia ban.

Albayrak became a member of the Parliament with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after the elections of 7 June 2015, reelected in the snap elections of 1 November 2015. 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. 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 thus contributed to the Turkish currency and debt crisis of 2018. He was reelected on 24 June 2018 to parliament under a new constitution.

Albayrak was CEO of Çalık until late 2013.

Upon his return to Turkey in 2006, Albayrak first served as assistant general manager of financial affairs in Çalık, and was appointed as CEO of Çalık Holding in 2007.

Albayrak married Esra Erdoğan in July 2004. They have three children; Ahmet Akif (b. 2006), Emine Mahinur (b. 2009) and Sadık (b. 2015).

He joined Çalık Holding in 1999, and was appointed financial director of their US office in 2002 while he studied 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.

Berat Albayrak (born 21 February 1978) is a Turkish businessman and politician. He is the former CEO of Çalık Holding; a former MP; former Minister of Energy and Natural Resources; and current Minister of Finance and Treasury. In 2004, he married the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Albayrak has been linked to oil production and smuggling in ISIL, and this Wikipedia article about him was one of four that led to the 2017-2020 block of Wikipedia in Turkey.

Berat Albayrak was born on 21 February 1978, the son of Sadık Albayrak, a journalist and politician. His brother Serhat also had a senior position in Çalık Holding.