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Turkey's intelligence chief resigns to run for parliament elections

Xinhua, February 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkey's national intelligence chief resigned late Friday in a bid to run for a parliament seat in the upcoming general elections in June, private Dogan news agency reported on Saturday.

resigned late Friday to run for a parliament seat in upcoming general elections in June, private Dogan news agency reported on Saturday.

Hakan Fidan, head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, is a close confidante to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

His resignation will not be effective till Feb. 10, which is also the deadline for public servants to tender their resignations to campaign for the June elections.

Fidan, former head of The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, served as deputy undersecretary to then Prime Minister Erdogan. In May 2010, he was appointed as the chief of intelligence service.

He played a key role for many cases in Turkey's foreign policy affairs regarding Middle East, particularly about Hamas and Syria, as well as Turkey's "peace process" which aims to end three decades of old Kurdish insurgency in the country.

Meanwhile, Fidan is seen as potential future foreign minister of Turkey, according to local media. Endit