Turkey: Minister Soylu 'humbled' by reactions on resignation move

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish interior minister on Monday welcomed the attitude of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the people of Turkey following his announcement of resignation.

Late Sunday, Suleyman Soylu announced that he was stepping down from the post, citing recent incidents ahead of a weekend coronavirus curfew across much of Turkey.

However, Erdogan turned down Soylu’s resignation a few hours later. Turkey’s Communications Directorate said in a statement that Soylu “submitted his resignation to the President, and our President told him that he did not find the request suitable.”

Soylu said on Twitter that the attitude of Erdogan and Turkish nation, after his resignation move on curfew declaration, has “humbled” him.

"The shortcomings in steps taken under the trust of our state and nation have been accepted as human error and we assumed higher responsibility to repair the situation," he said.

He further added that his resignation decision was part of “responsibility” for incidents on Friday night in the narrow window between when the curfew was declared and it went into effect.

Soylu also vowed to continue serving the people of Turkey in his Twitter message.

When the 48-hour curfew in 31 provinces was announced late Friday which was set to start at midnight, crowds flocked to many shops and bakeries to buy last-minute goods but often flouted social distancing rules meant to stem the virus’ spread.

As of Sunday, Turkey reported 97 more deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the total to 1,198. The country also has nearly 57,000 confirmed cases.