Another AK Party deputy, Muhammed Çetin, resigns in protest


Date posted: January 31, 2014

 

İSTANBUL

Another deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Muhammed Çetin, has resigned from his party on Friday in protest of the graft scandal that has implicated the sons of three ministers and businessmen close to the government as well as the chief of a state bank.

Çetin was referred to the party’s disciplinary committee On Jan. 16 for expulsion after he made a joke about shoebox in allusion to Halkbank Manager’s stashing 4,5 millions of dollars at shoeboxes.

Çetin reportedly asked AK Party deputies Volkan Bozkır and Ali Aşlık about their shoebox numbers. His joke prompted other deputies to tell the incident to the party administration, which outraged with the joke and referred Çetin to the disciplinary committee with request of expulsion.

The incident comes against backdrop of increasing draconian measures by the ruling AK Party to stifle any opposition and critical voice within the party amid mounting intra-party dissent.

The possible expulsion also refers to a deep sense of mistrust and insecurity within the party over deputies’ loyalties as upcoming legal amendments to restructure the judicial bodies require strong solidarity in parliamentary voting sessions.

The AK Party has been shaken by resignations following a corruption probe that has rocked Turkey’s political and business elite since it became public last month.

On the last day of 2013, the party’s Burdur deputy, Hasan Hami Yıldırım, resigned in protest of the government’s response to the graft scandal. With Yıldırım’s resignation, the number of AK Party seats in Parliament dropped to 320 and the number of independent lawmakers rose to 12.

Yıldırım slammed what he called a campaign of “insults” and “defamation” against Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement, criticizing the government’s description of Hizmet as a “gang.”

Three deputies — Erdal Kalkan, Ertuğrul Günay and Haluk Özdalga — also left the party before Yıldırım’s resignation, continuing a string of resignations that started in November, bringing the total number of deputies who have resigned to seven.

 

Source: Todays Zaman , January 31, 2014


Related News

Already feeling unsafe in Turkey

Erdogan’s honor overrode freedom of speech in Turkey and Mahir got deported because of a simple allegation — that he’d posted critical tweets that targeted Turkey. No, no — I mean Erdoğan’s Turkey.

Human rights associations up in arms over deputy’s remarks on torture allegations

In an open letter to the Turkish Parliament, six Turkey-based human rights associations on Thursday criticized recent remarks of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Mehmet Metiner, who said the government would ignore allegations of torture and mistreatment if victims were sympathizers of the Gülen movement.

The AK Party versus the Gülen Community

MUSTAFA AKYOL These days, the hottest topic in Turkey is the growing tension between the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government and the Fethullah Gülen Movement, a powerful Islamic community with millions of followers and a large civil society presence. In fact, these two powerful forces, “the party” and the “the community,” used to be […]

4 people trying to escape persecution in Turkey missing after boat capsizes in Evros River

A woman and her three children went missing after a boat carrying several Turkish asylum seekers who fled Turkey due to an ongoing government crackdown on followers of the Gülen movement capsized in the Evros River along the Turkey-Greece border on Wednesday night, Euronews Turkish reported.

University preparatory courses and the Hizmet movement in Turkey

Most (university) preparatory courses (in Turkey) are run by the Hizmet movement, and it is very clear that the government’s steps to close down such courses, an action against the movement, will negatively affect a great number of people. Many analysts said it is impossible for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which does not have a good relationship with the Hizmet movement, to close down preparatory courses in the run-up to the pre-election period.

Too Good to Be True

Emre Celik When was the last time you heard that? I’ve heard it a few times — here’s the story. I am now in my fifth year in Washington, D.C., having immigrated from Australia. Here I have had the pleasure and responsibility of presiding over the Rumi Forum, an organization dedicated to interfaith and intercultural […]

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Foreign Affairs: Turkish government’s ‘Global Purge’ targeted opponents in at least 46 countries

Watch out! Anatolian Tigers on the prowl

Turkey’s efforts in Somalia

In Indonesia Turkish schools will not be closed

Palestinian woman denied visa to Turkey for treatment, says Kimse Yok Mu official

Deutsche Welle: Power struggle between old friends in Turkey

What Erdogan and Khomeini Have in Common

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News