Turkish economy, interior, environment ministers resign amid graft scandal
Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Environment and Urbanization Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar announced their resignations today.
The first announcement came hours after Çağlayan returned from a trip to Pakistan, where he accompanied Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“It is clear that the operation that was launched on Dec. 17 is a dirty [game] against our government, our party and our country,” Çağlayan said in a written statement. “I have left my duty as the economy minster to spoil this ugly game in which my son and my close aides were implicated and to allow the facts come out."
"I presented my resignation verbally to the prime minister on Dec. 17 [the date his son was detained in the corruption operation]. Today I presented it in writing," Muammer Güler said in a statement.
The high-level graft probe has shaken the political establishment, exposing a bitter feud between the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, whose followers hold key positions in the police, judiciary and secret services.
Twenty-four people have been arrested under the corruption investigation that hit Turkey last week, including the sons of Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Çağlayan.
In response, approximately 70 police officers, including the powerful head of Istanbul’s force, have been sacked or moved to different posts.
POLITICS - Turkish economy, interior, environment ministers resign amid graft scandal
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Environment Minister Bayraktar announces resignation, calls on PM Erdoğan to quit
Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar announced his resignation from Cabinet and Parliament today, further calling on Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to resign to ease the turmoil over a continuing graft investigation that has gripped the country.
Bayraktar joins Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, who also announced their resignations earlier today.
Bayraktar said most of the amendments on construction plans mentioned in the investigation had been made with Erdoğan’s knowledge. He also added that he received pressure to submit his own resignation.
“With your permission, I want to make very short statements in the form of a press statement,” Bayraktar said during a live broadcast on the private channel NTV, while noting his innocence in the claims stemming from the Dec. 17 probe.
“It is of course a right and an authority for Mr. Prime Minister to work with whichever minister he wants and to remove whichever minister he wants from office. But I do not accept the pressure being put on me which says, ‘Resign because of an operation in which there are statements of bribery and corruption and release a declaration that will relieve me,’” Bayraktar said.
“I do not [accept that] because a big part of the zoning plans that are in the investigation file and were confirmed were made with approval from Mr. Prime Minister,” he said.
Declaring that he resigned from both Parliament and the Cabinet, he said, “For the sake of the well-being of this nation and country, I believe the prime minister should resign.”
POLITICS - Environment Minister Bayraktar announces resignation, calls on PM Erdoğan to quit
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PM Erdoğan announces new Cabinet with 10 changes amid graft probe
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced the new Cabinet following a meeting with President Abdullah Gül today in Ankara amid a high-level graft probe that has shaken the government.
The cabinet reshuffle comes after Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Environment and Urbanization Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar, who face bribery and corruption allegations, announced their resignations earlier today.
Güler has been replaced by Prime Ministry Undersecretary Efkan Ala, who is one of Erdoğan’s closest aides. Nihat Zeybekçi assumed the ministerial position left vacant by Çağlayan while İdris Güllüce was appointed as the new Environment and Urban Planning minister.
Egemen Bağış, whose name was also mentioned in the graft investigation as a suspect involved in corruption and bribery, also lost his ministerial post in the reshuffle. Bağış has been replaced by Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) deputy chair in charge of external affairs, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
“Some of my friends have asked to be excused due to the recent developments, some are quitting the Cabinet because of their candidature [at the upcoming local elections] and others are changes proposed to the President within my discretion and approved by him,” Erdoğan told reporters during a press briefing.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ was appointed as new justice minister, after Sadullah Ergin announced his candidacy for the upcoming local elections in the southern province of Hatay.
Ankara Deputy Emrullah İşler will replace Bekir Bozdağ as deputy prime minister. Ayşenur İslam Aile was named to replace Family and Social Affairs Minister Fatma Şahin who will run for Gaziantep mayoral post while Lütfi Elvan replaces Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım, who is a candidate for İzmir mayoral post.
Sports and Youth Minister Suat Kılıç and Industry and Technology Ministrer Nihat Ergin also lost their ministerial portfolios and were replaced by Akif Çağatay and Fikri Işık respectively.
Twenty-four people have been arrested under the corruption investigation that hit Turkey last week, including the sons of Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Çağlayan. Bayraktar’s son was released pending trial.
POLITICS - PM Erdoğan announces new Cabinet with 10 changes amid graft probe
