Thousands of Turkish protesters urge Erdogan to step down

Thousands of Turks started protesters in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and seven other cities, calling on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to step down following the resignation of three ministers on Wednesday. In Istanbul, more than 5,000 people are staging anti-government protests in Kadikoy district of the Asian side of the city while more than 1,000 are gathering in Besiktas where the prime minister office is located in the European side. The protesters are shouting slogans such as "Three ministers' resignation is not enough, the whole government should resign," " corruption is everywhere", "resistance is everywhere." The protests were called upon by more than 10 political parties and organizations in the country. Turkish opposition parties maintained that the resignation move was belated as the related case erupted on Dec. 17. Furthermore, the opposition stepped up pressure for the resignation of the country's EU minister who is said to have been involved in corruption and bribery. However, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara: "We eliminated the bad ones to keep our records all clean. We are waiting to see those targeted by defamation to return after they are cleared." Addressing his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan said: "We will not leave any state institutions under suspicion, we will clear the rotten ones or we will do our best to clear them." Under the tremendous social pressure, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, Interior Minister Muammer Gulerurban and Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar implicated in a corruption probe announced their resignation on Wednesday. Erdogan Bayraktar said in an interview with NTV television that Erdogan should step down as well because all of his actions were done with the prime minister's approval. Ministers quitted after police detained and even arrested their sons on Dec. 17 in probes into bribery, money laundering, corruption in government tenders and gold smuggling. Four hundred police officers at the Istanbul Police Department have been removed from duty and are being transferred in the midst of an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption and bribery, according to local media.