Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has presented a new list of cabinet ministers to president Abdullah Gul after three ministers resigned over a high-level graft inquiry, targeting Erdogan’s allies in one of the country’s worst political crises.
Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, Interior Minister Muammer Guler and Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar announced their resignation on Wednesday, a week after their sons were taken into custody.
Bayraktar also called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to step down. He says a great proportion of the construction projects under investigation were approved by the prime minister. Turkish lawmaker and former interior minister, Idris Naim Sahin, also submitted his resignation to the AK Party. Erdogan has denounced the corruption probe as a plot against his party and the Turkish people.
"We are facing an attack against the Turkish people and the Turkish republic, which is presented as a corruption probe. Everybody is aware that this is not a corruption probe but this is an obvious conspiracy, a set-up against Turkish politics and people." said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister.
