Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has announced his resignation over the corona crisis. The resignation followed massive criticism after the two-day curfew announced on Friday night.

As the 48-hour curfew was announced only two hours before it was put in effect, thousands of people rushed to markets to shop, endangering all the measures implemented until then to contain the spread of the virus. The HDP criticised that the supposed preventive measure had rather led to a more rapid spread of the pandemic.

The statement by Soylu said the following: “The responsibility of the implementation of the curfew, which came in a process managed laboriously and meticulously, lies with me in person in all aspects. The scenes witnessed during the restricted hours did not correspond to the excellently managed process. All the experiences I have made so far should not have led to the emergence of such scenes in the mentioned incident, for which we hold responsibility. It was a well-intended step taken in order to contain the spread of the pandemic at the weekend. May our valuable nation that I have never meant to harm, and my president, to whom I will remain loyal till the end of my life, forgive me… I am resigning from my office as Interior Minister where I have served with honor. My God protect our nation.”

Soylu, who had been serving as Interior Minister since 2016, has perpetrated inhuman practices against the Kurdish people, other peoples and the opposition in the country since he took office.

Soylu, together with AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli, as well as pro-Ergenekon generals who have been imprisoned and sentenced to aggravated life sentence, are the architects of a genocide against the Kurdish people basing on a so-called “sacred alliance”.

Soylu was given a place in all the cabinets formed by Erdoğan for a war against the Kurds, and has made history as a minister who played a role in all the massacres and war crimes committed by the Turkish government.

For many people, especially Kurds and opposition activists, Süleyman Soylu, who was imported at the request of Erdoğan from Tansu Çiller's party - which is seen as responsible for the pogroms of the 1990s - was rather a "minister of war".

He expressed his attitude towards the Kurdish people again only a few days ago, when at his instigation the body of the guerrilla fighter Agit Ipek was sent to his family in Amed by cargo. Opposition members were always described by Soylu as "potential enemies", "terrorists" and "traitors".

According to his own statements, Soylu was also proud when he ordered the police operation against the 700th vigil of the Istanbul Initiative of Saturday Mothers almost two years ago. He accused the bereaved of disappeared people of "supporting terrorist organizations" and called them "dirty people".