Former Turkish interior minister resigns from AKP over graft scandal

ISTANBUL

Idris Naim Şahin was appointed interior minister in 2011. He was replaced by Muammer Güler after a cabinet reshuffle last January. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

Former Turkish interior minister İdris Naim Şahin has announced his resignation from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) today over the graft scandal that has gripped the country.

Şahin was the predecessor of Muammer Güler whose son has been arrested under the corruption investigation that rocked Turkey last week. 

His resignation from the party comes as Güler, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan and Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar have announced their resignation from the Cabinet earlier today. 

It is the first resignation from the AKP, and a high-profile one, since the high-level graft probe was revealed with the police operations into the three minister’s houses.

Güler and Çağlayan’s sons are among the twenty-four people arrested last week while Bayraktar’s son was released pending trial.

In his letter of resignation, Şahin emphasized that as a founder of the AKP in 2001, he had been profoundly disturbed by the way the party was ruled.
 
“When it comes to governing, it is understood that [the party] prefers the guidance of a small oligarchic staff comprising politicians and bureaucrats, whose intentions are uncertain,” Şahin said in his letter.
 
“The recent [purge] of the devoted and loyal members of our security organizations with whom we have accomplished very successful tasks, as well as the assessments on the impartial members of our independent judiciary, cannot be explained with reason or justice,” he added.
 
Idris Naim Şahin was appointed interior minister in 2011. He was replaced by Muammer Güler after a cabinet reshuffle last January.