News Scan, Dec 25th 2013 – Turkish economy, interior, environment ministers resign

Turkish PM presents new ministers

Turkish PM Erdogan presented the new cabinet list after his meeting with the Turkish President.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has approved Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s cabinet revision to change Turkish economy, interior and environment ministers and seven other ministers, amid the anti-graft probe.

Emrullah Isler becomes the new Deputy Prime Minister, Nihat Zeybekci becomes the new Minister of Economy, Efkan Ala becomes the new Minister of Interior, Idris Gulluce becomes the new Minister of Environment and City Planning, Bekir Bozdag becomes the new Minister of Justice, Aysenur Islam becomes the new Minister of Family and Social Policies, Mevlut Cavusoglu becomes the new Minister of European Union, Lutfi Elvan becomes the new Minister of Transportation, Fikri Isik becomes the new Minister of Science, Industry and Technology, Akif Cagatay Kilic becomes the new Minister of Youth and Sports.

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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 during which Twenty-four people including the sons of Interior Minister Muammer Güler and Çağlayan have been arrested under the corruption investigation, has shaken the political establishment in Turkey. In response, approximately 70 police officers, including the powerful head of Istanbul’s force, have been sacked or moved to different posts.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

Three ministers resign as one urges PM to step down amid corruption probe

The Cabinet was shaken by the resignations of three ministers on Wednesday over a sweeping corruption and bribery investigation, with one of the ministers calling on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to step down as well.
Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan and Interior Minister Muammer Güler announced their resignations earlier in the day. They denied any involvement in corruption or bribery and said their resignations were aimed at helping the “truth to come out.”

However, Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar, in a harsh statement, claimed that he had been pressured to submit his own resignation to save the prestige of the government, adding that the prime minister should also quit as most of the amendments on construction plans mentioned in the corruption investigation were made on Erdoğan’s orders.

TODAYS ZAMAN

Turkey bans media from Security Directorate buildings

In September, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) made it clear that the press freedom crisis is deepening in Turkey. “Heated anti-press rhetoric, the firing of leading journalists, threats to restrict online speech and a series of physical and legal assaults further damaged the press freedom environment in Turkey in the months following the Gezi Park protests that began last May,” the CPJ wrote.

The Interior Ministry decided to ban journalists from entering police premises across the nation at the height of the corruption and bribery scandal.

That crisis is only getting worse now as the government is desperately trying to provide damage control for a corruption scandal involving three ministers’ sons and one minister.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/12/journalists-banned-turkey-corruption-scandal.html#ixzz2oWkLrfo0

İstanbul prosecutor orders detention of 30 people, police resist

Shaken by a massive corruption scandal sweeping his government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has publicly lashed out at many diverse groups which he accused of conspiring with foreign elements abroad to take down his ruling Justice and Development (AK Party) government.

Speaking at an AK Party’s expanded provincial chairmen meeting after three of his minister resigned, Erdoğan called the corruption operation an “international plot” supported by some collaborators within the country that aims to sow discord in Turkey. Invoking the phrase “interest lobby” again, which he used during May-June Gezi Park protests to blame international conspiracy groups as being behind the protests, Erdoğan urged his party members to fight against them all, calling the new era just as important as the “war of independence.” He said this conspiracy is not just against the ruling party, but against the nation of 76 million people.

In several veiled references to the Hizmet movement, inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen who has been critical of the government for trying to derail the corruption investigation, the prime minister claimed that the operation was orchestrated by “gangs” and a “parallel state.”

TODAYS ZAMAN

2014 to be toughest year for Turkish banks: Garanti CEO

Due to changing global and local context, next year may be the thoughest that the banking sector have faced within past 10 years, CEO of the Garanti Bank, has warned in an interview

A tough year lies ahead for Turkish lenders because of the challenges expected to erupt with the U.S. Fed’s plan to taper its stimulus plan and macroeconomic conditions in the country, the CEO of Garanti Bank has said.

“I think 2014 will be hardest of the past 10 years for banking sector,” Garanti CEO Ergun Özen has told Anadolu Agency in a wide-ranging interview yesterday.

Özen said there were two main structural worries ahead of the economy: repercussions from the uncertainty arising from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary exit strategy and reflections of measures taken for balancing growth components into banks’ balance sheets.

HURRIYET DAILY NEWS

25.12.2013

This is a news-scan from major Turkish papers and internet sites. However, we do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.