Turkey's Deputy PM trashes Ankara mayor after call to quit

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç has declared that Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek is corrupt and has "no manners," in an unusually frank speech amid intra-government clashes, hours after the latter called for his resignation.

Gökçek "has sat in the lap" of the Gülen movement, Ar?nç claimed, referring to the movement that has been targeted by the government since the huge graft probe broke late in 2014. 

"He has sold Ankara to this structure plot by plot," Ar?nç said, adding that he was ready to "reveal the mayor's wrongdoings," but only after the June 7 elections in order to avoid causing any harm to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).  

He also accused Gökçek of trying to secure a spot for his son in the upcoming elections. 

Deputy Prime Minister Ar?nç said he wanted to avoid further comment for the sake of Gökçek's wife, Nevin Gökçek, "who I and my wife respect and adore." 

His remarks came hours after Gökçek called on Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu to dismiss Ar?nç for engaging in a war of words with President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an over the Kurdish peace process. 

Gökçek accused Ar?nç, one of the founders of the AKP along with Erdo?an, of "serving" the movement of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

"Ar?nç can no longer be the spokesperson of the AK Party. He cannot represent us. What Ar?nç must do from now on is to resign first from his job as spokesperson, and then from his seat in the government," Gökçek said via his Twitter account. 

Gökçek argued that Ar?nç would not resign voluntarily, as he has been instructed to work by the "parallel structure" so it should be the government's duty to unseat him. "Bülent Ar?nç: We don't want you," he tweeted. 

The...