ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish justice minister Abdulhamit Gul said early Saturday that he has resigned from his position without revealing why he has stepped down. “With the approval of our honourable President, I have resigned from my duty as justice minister which I have been serving since July 19, 2017,” Gul said in a tweet, thanking Erdogan “for accepting my request for relief.” Gul also wished success for his successor Bekir Bozdag who was appointed by Erdogan in the same presidential decree that approved Gul’s resignation. Bozdag has served as justice minister and deputy prime minister in the past and currently serves as a lawmaker for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In another presidential decree, Erdogan also replaced the head of the statistics institute (TUIK). Ali Babacan, a former foreign minister and the head of the newly-established Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), slammed Erdogan for the replacements. “A country governed by decisions made at night with the signature of a single person can only do this much,” he said in a tweet, adding that no one know why such changes are made. He also said that the AKP’s alliance with the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) continues to harm the country.
