Borsa Istanbul appoints new managing director

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's stock exchange Borsa Istanbul has named Hakan Atilla its new managing director, according to a BIST statement on Monday.

Atilla, 49, served as deputy director-general at Turkish state lender Halkbank from 2011 to 2018.

Marking the appointment on Twitter, Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak proclaimed that Atilla had "returned to his country and was reunited with his family after an unjust conviction."

This July Atilla returned to Turkey after serving a U.S. prison sentence for violating American sanctions on Iran -- charges he maintained he was innocent of.

Last October Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted Atilla's conviction, calling it a "politically motivated” ruling with "no respect for the law."

Atilla's predecessor at the BIST helm, Murat Cetinkaya, stepped down to become deputy governor of the Turkish Central Bank.