Interior Minister Muammer Guler (pictured left) and Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan (right) announced their resignations on Wednesday, just hours after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned from a trip abroad.
A total of 24 people, including the sons of both Caglayan and Guler, have been arrested as part of three separate bribery investigations centering on state-run lender Halkbank.
Both ministers portrayed the scandal as an orchestrated effort to create discord in Turkey.
“I have resigned from my post of economy minister to help the truth to come out and to foil this ugly plot, which has impacted my child and my close work colleagues among others,” Caglayan said in a statement.
Guler made a separate statement, calling the affair “a dirty set-up against our government, party and country.”
Turkish President Abdullah Gul had said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Erdogan was preparing a cabinet reshuffle upon his return from an official visit to Pakistan.
The prime minister held a special late-night meeting with some of his ministers, including Guler, at his Ankara home, DW informs.
