Breaking News... Handover ceremony at the Ministry of Interior: First statement from Ali Yerlikaya as he hands over the seat to Mustafa Çiftçi

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's decision has led to changes in the Ministries of Interior and Justice. While Erzurum Governor Mustafa Çiftçi has been appointed to replace Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya, Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek has become the Minister of Justice.

Following the decision published in the Official Gazette, a handover ceremony was held at the Ministry of Interior.

Ali Yerlikaya, who handed over the duty to Mustafa Çiftçi, said the following in his speech:

"Mr. Minister, my esteemed colleagues, valuable members of our interior family, and our nation watching us on their screens, first of all, we greet you with respect. Our brother Mustafa Çiftçi has been appointed to the ministry position by the approval of our President. I congratulate him wholeheartedly. May God be his helper. He is both my colleague and a fellow townsman from Konya. Once again, a fellow governor has been deemed worthy of this position. I believe he will succeed; he has taken the same service flag from us and, under the leadership of our President, he will work day and night for the security and peace of our nation and state, with God's permission. I am grateful to our President. I express my gratitude.

I have served since my time as a district governor. We do not know how many breaths there are between the first and the last; we call this life, and this life passes through tests. Sometimes we are tested with positions, and when we are told to be thankful, these tests continue. In the duties given by our leader Erdoğan since his first prime ministry, and in the ministry, I have had the fortune to work with the prayers of our nation and leave with my head held high. I believe our valuable minister will also hand this over to one of our brothers with his head held high. I am grateful to each of my colleagues. We did not cause anyone pain with our words. We worked to do our job in the best way possible. Every beginning has a prayer. I am leaving today with the same prayer I made when I first arrived. I offer my final thanks to my family. I could never neglect my social circle; I could not attend weddings or events. I worked for our state and our nation."

Minister of Interior Mustafa Çiftçi made the following remarks:

"Mr. Minister, my esteemed colleagues, I greet you with respect. With today's decree and the approval of our President, I am taking over the duty from our minister. I thank our ministers who have served until today. Our minister has provided beautiful services. They served with care in cases of crimes against individuals, assets, fraud, and irregular migration. In my 30th year, I have seen these days as well. I thank God. I call this a blessing from my Lord. Not because I am superior to others, but because God blessed me. Our President was the intermediary. I thank them for giving me this duty. I thank our minister for the valuable services he provided; I learned a lot from him. He was both our senior colleague and our minister. I hope he will be instrumental in other services as well. When I started my duty in Çorum, I said that when I leave this duty one day, I want to leave behind a good legacy. I know that I have taken on a difficult task. This is a strenuous duty. I, too, may hand over the duty to someone else when the time comes. With this occasion, I thank everyone."