Turkish deputy PM denies claims of resignation

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç. AFP Photo

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç denied reports claiming he attempted to resign from his posts in the government and in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and had to be convinced otherwise by the president, according to Doğan news agency.

“Reports stating that I left the Cabinet, and that I resigned from my posts, and that my cabinet colleagues tried to convince me, and that I only changed my mind after the president’s intervention, are completely untrue,” Arınç said in a statement.

Daily Taraf said June 20 that Arınç and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dah a major argument in last week’s Cabinet meeting before Arınç left the room. Taraf quoted source as saying that Arınç declared the he would resign both the party and his seat as the deputy PM. However, President Abdullah Gül convinced him not to resign, it claimed.

‘Scenario’

Such a report could not come out with “good intentions,” Arınç said, saying, “that report is the continuation of the scenario withheld by some media outlets throughout the Gezi protests.

Arınç accused the report of trying to cause a rift between himself and the prime minister, and to “isolate our prime minister and make him look bad.”

EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış has also previously denied the reports, describing the revelations of Cabinet meetings as “a crime.” “The Cabinet meetings of the Turkish state are private. It is a crime to reveal details of such private meetings. Those who voice these claims should keep in mind that they are committing a crime, and do not force me to commit that crime here.”

Bağış said Arınç, President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan were very close, and were “all tied to this country with love and devotion.”