ANKARA
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has dismissed rumors of dissent between himself and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over a government plan to create a team to monitor the solution process with the outlawed PKK.
Arinc was commenting Monday on remarks he made two days earlier when he said Erdogan's expression of disfavor for the monitoring group project was "emotional" and “personal ideas” which he said might attract criticism.
However, speaking at a press conference after a Council of Ministers' meeting at Cankaya Palace led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Arinc said: "Some media outlets spread rumors by shallow and graceless news over a so-called conflict or face-off between our president and the government or myself."
Arinc stressed that he was not the kind of person to enter into an argument with the president with whom he has years of brotherhood and long fought a political war for a common cause.
'Misleading information'
Erdogan had said Friday that it was primarily a duty of the intelligence services to oversee the solution process, aimed at solving the decades-old conflict with the PKK.
He stated: "Let me say clearly I am not in favor of this issue."
Arinc added Monday: "Our president is expressing his opinions on certain issues.
"If his opinions have come to a point that could serve the purpose of those who strive to cause misconceptions and incomplete or misleading information, our duty is not to criticize him, but to inform him and speak about the missing parts of the issue."
He said he had spoken only to give further information on the monitoring committee issue as it was a duty upon him as the government spokesman to fill any missing points which may lead to misunderstandings.
Harsh reaction
Arinc added President Erdogan had not misunderstood his remarks.
"As the government, we pick on ourselves if we misinform the president on the solution process or other issues," he said.
Arinc also reacted harshly to a call for his resignation by the AK Party's Ankara Mayor, Melih Gokcek, who wrote on his Twitter account: "Arinc could no more serve as the government spokesman or represent the party" after the rumored "dispute" with Erdogan.
The deputy PM called the mayor's remarks an impudent insult personally directed at him as a retaliation as he had objected to Gokcek's candidacy during the March 2013 local elections.
Monday's Cabinet meeting was the first held to be held in Cankaya -- the presidential residence and office since the foundation of the Turkish Republic which has recently been transferred to the Prime Ministry after Erdogan's office moved to the new Presidential Palace in October.
