Turkey: Erdogan rejects Interior Minister's resignation after COVID-19 lockdown criticism

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reportedly rejected resignation of Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu who anunced his exit citing short-tice coronavirus lockdown. Turkey declared a 48-hour curfew on April 10 in several provinces starting midnight which left people scrambling for essential supplies and a wave of last-minute buying.

“ incidents that occurred ahe of implementation of curfew were t befitting perfect manment of outbreak,” Soylu said in a statement anuncing his resignation.

However, Erdogan’s director of communications anunced that President has t accepted resignation owing to “successful work” Interior Minister has been doing for over a month. office said that minister has enabled strong coordination in wake of natural disasters such as earthquakes through his persistent presence on ground.

'Played important role'

Director of communications furr highlighted Soylu’s “important role” in substantially reducing capacity of terrorist organizations to carry out terrorist acts in Turkey. It ded that coronavirus pandemic also has dimensions of healthcare services, food supply, and public safety.

“ successful work which our Interior Minister has been doing for over a month has ensured that public safety issues have been encountered in this process,” said office in a statement.

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Director of communications said that President has informed interior minister that his resignation request would t be approved. Turkey has reported nearly 57,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 1,198 deaths due to infection which forced government to opt for drastic measures to contain virus.

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According to latest report, over 1.8 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide with more than 114,800 deaths, overwhelming health care facilities across globe. United States, Italy, Spain and France are worst-hit countries due to pandemic with over 64 per cent of death toll reported from se four countries alone.

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(Im source: AP)