President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a nearly three-hour-long meeting with Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek late on Oct. 5 after he indirectly suggested Gökçek’s resignation from his post.
The meeting took place upon Gökçek’s demand, presidential sources have said, without giving further details. After the meeting, Gökçek, on his Twitter account, said he introduced the plans of a museum to be erected right across the presidential complex to Erdoğan.
Before Gökçek, Erdoğan met with Balıkesir Mayor Edip Uğur, who is also on a list of mayors who have been asked to resign by Erdoğan.
The issue comes amid resignations by Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş and Düzce Mayor Mehmet Keleş.
Erdoğan made clear that mayors suffering from what he calls “metal fatigue” should quit their jobs before the AKP expels them or a judicial action on the basis of wrongdoing is filed against them.
Gökçek was appointed as the mayor of Ankara in 1994 and joined the AKP in the early 2000s. He won polls in Ankara in three consecutive elections in 2004, 2009 and 2014.