Erdoğan’s advisor Hamza Yerlikaya appointed as Vakıfbank board member

Turkish Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Hamza Yerlikaya has been appointed as a board member at the state-run Vakıfbank, Turkey’s Public Disclosure Platform said on Friday. 

Yerlikaya is also a former Olympic wrestler and one of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s senior advisors. Vakıfbank is Turkey’s third largest state-owned bank

Barış Yarkadaş, journalist and former deputy of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), criticised Yerlikaya’s appointment in a tweet on Friday.

“The formula for saving the sinking economy has been found!  Hamza Yerlikaya, former national wrestler, Deputy Minister and Advisor to the President, was made a Member of the Board of Directors of Vakıfbank,” Yarkadaş said. “Gentlemen, I guess he can't live without getting three separate salaries. In addition, with which knowledge he assumes this role; that is also a separate problem.”

Batan ekonomiyi kurtarmanın formülü bulundu! Eski milli güreşçi, Bakan Yardımcısı ve Cumhurbaşkanı Danışmanı Hamza Yerlikaya, Vakıfbank Yönetim Kurulu Üyesi yapılmış. Beyefendiler, 3 ayrı maaş almadan yaşayamıyor sanırım. Ayrıca hangi birikimle bu görevi alıyor; o dA ayrı sorun..

— Barış Yarkadaş (@barisyarkadas) June 12, 2020

Yerlikaya graduated from the department of Physical Education and Sports at Süleyman Demirel University, and worked as a civil servant in Turkish State Railways, Emlak Bank and the Istanbul Municipality before his election to parliament in 2005.