Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan replaced nearly half his cabinet in a dramatic reshuffle late Wednesday after a spreading graft scandal forced the resignation of three top ministers and threatened the premier's own hold on power.
Erdogan announced on television he had replaced those three ministers- for the interior, economy, environment- as well as his EU affairs minister, and reshuffled the justice, transport, family, sports and industry portfolios, and one of his four deputy prime ministers' posts.
The reshuffle was decided in a closed-door meeting with President Abdullah Gul, who had said since Tuesday that it was imminent.
Another protest took place in Istanbul on Wednesday demanding Erdogan´s ouster, but police used tear gas to disperse the estimated 5,000 demonstrators after some skirmishes.
Protests were also reported in Ankara and Izmir.The probe into the corruption, which has seen recent police raids, focus on allegations of numerous offences including accepting and facilitating bribes for construction projects and illegally smuggling gold to Iran.
