Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing fresh calls to resign – as his government faces a wide-reaching corruption scandal, which has exposed the country’s deep institutional divisions.<br /><br />Hundreds of people across Turkey took part in anti-government demonstrations on Thursday, December 26. Protests were held in Istanbul and several other cities including Izmir and Adana.<br /><br />In a controversial move, Turkish prosecutor Muammer Akkas was removed from the high-level graft case, which has led to the arrests of the sons of two of Erdogan’s government ministers. <br /><br />Akkas accused the police of obstructing the investigation, saying: “by means of the police force, the judiciary was subjected to open pressure and the execution of court orders was obstructed.”<br /><br />However, Chief Prosecutor Turhan Colakkadi told reporters that Akkas had been removed from the case for leaking information to the media and failing to provide timely progress updates.<br /><br />“Nothing can be covered up. Regardless of who the criminals are, or whose children are involved, we will not allow for the judiciary to be eroded,” Colakkadi said.<br /><br />Erdogan, who has replaced half of his cabinet with loyalists in a reshuffle, says he believes he is the “real target” of the probe.<br /><br />There are Turkish media reports that the corruption investigation could be set to reach members of Erdogan’s own family.
