ANKARA, Turkey — The leader of Turkey's secular mainopposition party resigned as chairman over a sex scandal, on Monday, daysafter a secretly-taped video circulating on the Internet allegedlyshowed he was having an affair with a lawmaker.
Deniz Baykal, anardent critic of the Islamic-oriented government's policies, resignedduring a news conference saying he was the victim of a political plotby the government.
Baykal said such private images could not betaped without the government's knowledge. The woman in the video isallegedly a former aide, who was elected to parliament from his party.Both Baykal and the woman are married.
Baykal's resignation spelled the end of his four-decade political career and inflicted a blow to his Republican People's Party.