Turkey's Intelligence chief Fidan resigns to run for parliament

Head of Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, has decided to resign from his position on Friday in order to run for a parliament seat in general elections on June 7.

According to the presidential sources, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has accepted the resignation of Fidan on Friday. The resignation will be effective after Feb. 10, which is the deadline for public servants to submit their resignations to be able to run for parliamentary.

Fidan was appointed as the chief of MIT by then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in May 2010.

Before his MIT appointment, Fidan worked in Erdoğan's office as a deputy undersecretary. He is also known to have worked closely with current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu speaking live on a private channel previously commented on the candidacy of Fidan. He said "Hakan Fidan is a brave man. I believe he succeeds in whatever he is tasked with. There are issues that we will discuss, I will always be positive about Fidan, whatever the matter is."

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has also delievered comments on the resignation of Fidan. He said Fidan's running for the parliemantary elections to only become a deputy would be a waste for someone who was assigned to a post being the 'superman'.

Davutoğlu in response to the questions of the journalists in Sakarya province where he was attending the fifth congress of his party, pointed to the date Fidan stepped down from his post saying the government faced an unjust operation on that date which targeted Fidan.

"The operation that was launched on February 7 in a bid to sabotage the reconciliation process was indeed targeting the government and the prime minister, not Fidan. However the government spoiled the plot." Davutoğlu was quoted as saying.

On Feb. 7, 2012, Istanbul's specially authorized prosecutors Sadrettin Sarıkaya and Bilal Bayraktar, considered followers of the Gülen Movement in the judiciary, issued summons for intelligence chief Hakan Fidan for collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) administrative structure, the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK).