Melih Gökçek

The government is facing a major internal division, as demonstrated by the recent row between Deputy PM Bülent Arınç and Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, with CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu predicting that there is “more to come.”

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu criticized both Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç and Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek over the harsh accusations both have hurled at each other, vowing to take disciplinary action against those who damage the credibility of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), particularly on the eve of parliamentary elections.

The Ankara Public Prosecutor?s Office has launched an investigation after Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç accused Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek of corruption, amid rising intra-government friction.

Ar?nç declared that Gökçek is corrupt and has ?no manners,? in an unusually frank speech on March 23, hours after the latter called for his resignation.

What is the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government doing? 

Here is what it is doing:

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) circles were trying the extinguish the fire, or pretending that there was no fire at all, regarding the exchange of words between President Tayyip Erdo?an and Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç over the Kurdish issue, when the AK Parti?s intrepid Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek started to machine gun Ar?nç with tweets on March 23.

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.

Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek has called on Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu to dismiss Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç after he engaged in a war of words with President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an over the Kurdish peace process.

The Turkish capital?s municipality-administrated football club - modestly called Ankaraspor FC until it was renamed ?Osmanl?spor FC? (Ottomansport FC) last summer - may not be the most successful football team in the country, but at least now it will now be well-armed to conquer its rivals.

This columnist?s first of a few encounters with Melih Gökçek, the unchallenged mayor of the Turkish capital since 1994, was through a press release from the municipality, sent by fax to this newspaper, in the mid-1990s. It was grotesquely (but cutely) signed: Melih Gökçek, Lord Mayor of Ankara. It caused laughter in the newsroom.

Melih Gökçek has denied that the city’s tap water smells bad and caused diarrhea