Berat Albayrak

Berat Albayrak is a Turkish businessman and politician who has held senior government office and leadership positions in the private sector. He served as the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey from 2013 to 2015, overseeing policy and regulation in the country’s energy sector. After leaving the ministry, he became the chairman of the board of Calik Holding, a conglomerate with interests in energy, construction, textiles and finance. Through these roles he has been involved in shaping Turkey’s energy infrastructure and has maintained close ties to the ruling political family, being the son‑in‑law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. His professional activities span domestic projects and international partnerships, particularly in power generation and distribution ventures. The scope of his work includes both public‑sector regulatory functions and private‑sector investment decisions that affect markets across the region.

Albayrak’s personal email accounts were targeted in two separate cyber‑attacks carried out by a Marxist hacker group. The first breach occurred on 21 May 2021, when the group accessed his correspondence and disclosed evidence of coordinated pro‑government efforts to manipulate social media and suppress opposition voices, threatening further releases unless political prisoners were freed. A second incident took place on 26 September 2016, when the same group compromised the email accounts of Albayrak and Turkey’s Energy Minister, again threatening to leak sensitive data unless leftist dissidents were released and exposing tactics used to amplify state‑aligned narratives while silencing critical media coverage. These incidents highlighted the use of digital tools for political control and revealed the extent of censorship mechanisms within Turkey. The organisation’s headquarters is located in Turkey, and it is known publicly under the alias Berat Albayrak.