Turkish minister steps down amid failed coup crackdown

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has announced that the interior minister has stepped down and is being replaced by the labor minister.

Yildirim did not provide a reason for Efkan Ala’s resignation on Wednesday, which comes as Turkey is engaged in a massive crackdown of people suspected of links to last month’s failed coup.

Yildirim thanked Ala “for his services.”

Turkey has accused US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the failed attempt and is cracking down on his supporters. Some 35,000 people have been detained for questioning and more than 17,000 have been formally arrested to face trial, including soldiers, police, judges and journalists.

The abortive putsch raised questions about intelligence failings which government officials have acknowledged.

Yildirim said Suleyman Soylu, the minister for labor and social security, would replace Ala. Former health minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu would become the new labor minister.

Ala had served as interior minister for nearly three years. He also previously acted as undersecretary to Erdogan, when the president was prime minister.

Ala leaves the post as the insurgency between Turkish security forces and militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rages following the collapse of a two-year truce last summer.