CHP leader says 4 ministers facing corruption charges should resign

Last Tuesday dozens of people including sons of three ministers, prominent businessmen and bureaucrats were detained in the corruption operation; some of the suspects, including the sons of two ministers, were arrested at the weekend while others were released.

Despite calls from some circles of society, the ministers have not resigned from their posts.

Speaking prior to a CHP party council meeting, Kılıçdaroğlu said that what is expected of the ministers is to say: “We are clean; our children are also clean. We have never been involved in dirty business. We are handing our resignation to the prime minister to save him from public pressure.” Kılıçdaroğlu indicated that in return Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan should have said he trusts his ministers, the police, prosecutors and the state and approved the ministers' resignations saying, “I have ruled this country in a transparent way for 11 years.” The CHP leader said the nation would applaud Erdoğan if such a thing occurred, but there have been no developments in that regard.

“Those ministers came to Ankara, they canceled all their programs. They said they will not leave Ankara. They see their seats as their own property,” he said, adding that the ongoing corruption probe is the biggest in the history of the Turkish Republic.

Kılıçdaroğlu said corruption cannot happen with only one person and that there is need for the cooperation of politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen for it to occur, which he describes as a “devil's triangle.”

Speaking on the government's claim that there is a gang within the state that is behind the corruption operation, he said: “If there is a gang, the prime minister should rapidly convene the Cabinet. He will see the four gang leaders there,” referring to the four ministers facing corruption charges. In addition to three ministers -- Interior Minister Muammer Güler, Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar and Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan -- whose sons were detained as part of the corruption probe, EU Minister Egemen Bağış also faces corruption charges.

In his speech, Kılıçdaroğlu also asked Erdoğan why anyone would feel the need to hide money they earned legitimately in a shoe box, referencing the discovery of $4.5 million kept inside shoe boxes in the house of Halkbank General Manager Süleyman Aslan, which was discovered by the police in the corruption investigation last week.

“I am asking this to Erdoğan: Why would anyone hide halal [lawful] money earned by working in shoe boxes? This is a question any person can understand. I am asking this question to a person who is committed to Islam. I want him to answer. There is a state bank in question. You are the general manager of it; the bank is under your service, but you take such a huge amount of money to your house and hide it there. The ironic thing is that this incident is defended by the prime minister, who boasts of his commitment to Islam,” the CHP leader said.

Kılıçdaroğlu further remarked that there has not been any prime minister in the history of the Turkish Republic who has defended corruption and that Erdoğan is the first.

“We are for the first time faced with a prime minister who defends corruption. There is a lame duck government. We are faced with a government that has not internalized ethics,” he said.