Two HDP ministers resign from Turkey's interim gov’t

ANKARA

The two Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) members of Turkey’s interim government resigned Tuesday.

EU Minister Ali Haydar Konca and Development Minister Muslum Dogan quit the Justice and Development (AK) Party-dominated cabinet over the escalating Kurdish conflict and the lack of security in the run-up to the Nov. 1 general election.

“We submitted a summary of our grounds for resignation, Mr. Prime Minister put forward his views and said our grounds were not right, we thanked him and left,” Konca said at a news conference with Dogan at the HDP’s Ankara office.

The Prime Ministry confirmed that Premier Ahmet Davutoglu had accepted their resignations in a cabinet meeting.

Referring to the Kurdish-majority town of Cizre in southeast Turkey’s Sirnak province, which was put under an eight-day curfew earlier this month, Konca said he and Dogan had come under pressure over the crisis.

“We described in detail the ordeals we have had, the treatment we have faced as ministers regarding Cizre and said that these were unacceptable," he said.

He said he had received abusive phone calls over the bombing of a mosque during anti-terror operations in the town.

Konca went on to accuse the Interior Ministry and the Sirnak governor of failing to properly manage the crisis in Cizre.

Konca and Dogan took up their government posts last month as two of three opposition party members to accept Davutoglu's invitation. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) lawmaker Tugrul Turkes also joined the government but was later expelled from the party.