AKP Spokesperson: Erdoğan to decide whether finance minister will leave post or not

Photo: AA

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will decide whether Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak will continue his duty or not, the party's spokesperson Ömer Çelik has said.

Albayrak, who is also the son-in-law of Erdoğan, announced his resignation on Instagram yesterday (November 8).

Since then, no government official has made a statement on the issue with Erdoğan also not mentioning it during a speech he gave in Ankara earlier in the day.

Pro-government media outlets have also been mostly silent about the resignation of the minister, who has also not made a further statement and deleted his Twitter account.

Speaking at a press conference after the party's central executive committee meeting, Çelik didn't mention Albayrak's statement as well.

When asked about the issue by a Habertürk TV reporter after his speech, Çelik said that the subject was not related to the party's central executive committee and the President might make a statement about it.

"We are in the presidential government system," he reminded reporters, saying that it was at the President's discretion to accept a minister's resignation or not.

In April, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu also announced his resignation after a last-minute Covid-19 curfew caused panic among people but the President did not accept it. (EKN/VK)