New York Times : Hundreds of Police Officers Reassigned in Turkey


Date posted: January 7, 2014

ISTANBUL
About 350 Turkish police officers were removed from their posts in Ankara overnight, Turkish news agencies reported on Tuesday, the largest single purge of the police force since a corruption investigation plunged the government into crisis last month.

The dismissals were seen by analysts in Turkey as part of a continuing effort by the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to marginalize those it believes are driving the investigation. The government has already dismissed more than a dozen high-ranking police officials, prompting accusations that Mr. Erdogan has been interfering with the justice process.

The latest reshuffle affected at least 80 directors and other senior officers in the intelligence, organized crime, fiscal crime and cybercrime units of Ankara’s police force. Among those reassigned was Mahmut Azmaz, who led Ankara’s antiriot police force and who critics said used excessive force during antigovernment protests in June.

The removed officers were reassigned to traffic police departments and district police stations, and about 250 replacement officers, mostly from outside Ankara, have been appointed to take their place, the broadcaster NTV reported.

The corruption inquiry, which has resulted in the resignation of three cabinet ministers and a cabinet reshuffle, has targeted ministers’ sons, municipal workers and a major construction tycoon with links to Mr. Erdogan. At the center of the inquiry are allegations that officials bent zoning rules in return for bribes.

The investigation, the subject of daily reports in Turkish newspapers, has captured the public imagination in a country fascinated by real or imagined conspiracies. Turks have been riveted by lurid details and murky clues, like photographs of piles of cash in the bedroom of one minister’s home and reports that the chief executive of a state-owned bank had $4.5 million in cash stored in shoeboxes.

Mr. Erdogan’s government has condemned the inquiry as a politically motivated plot against his government by a “criminal gang” within the state, and Mr. Erdogan has warned that those seeking to ensnare him will fail.

The investigation has been attributed by government allies, fairly or not, to Fethullah Gulen, a reclusive and powerful Muslim preacher who lives in Pennsylvania. Mr. Gulen has millions of followers, including powerful sympathizers within Turkey’s police and judiciary. An erstwhile ally of Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Gulen appears to have had a recent falling out with the prime minister that analysts say is reverberating in Turkish politics.

Observers have suggested that the inquiry is retaliation for a government decision to close down university preparatory schools where the Gulen movement has recruited many of its followers. Mr. Gulen’s sympathizers have launched a huge campaign on social networks like Twitter to protest the closure of the schools.

Mr. Gulen’s followers vehemently deny claims that his adherents control state institutions. They argue that if his sympathizers are well represented within the police and judiciary, it is because they are well educated and highly qualified for their jobs.

Source: The New York Times , January 7, 2014


Related News

One Year On, New Research Uncovers Turkey’s Coup Bid Staged By Erdoğan Himself

The report uncovered a critical information that the plot was actually kicked off on July 11 with secret orders given by generals who corroborated with Turkey’s autocratic President Erdogan’s defense and intelligence chiefs in disguising the plan as unconventional action plan. Only a handful men were let into the secret plot while many were led to believe a drill or an urgent response to a terror threat is underway.

Her mother was detained right after her birth, she is now growing up in Athens

“Our decision to come to Greece developed very suddenly. I did not want to leave my country that I loved so much. Especially it gives different meaning if you have your parents and relatives still live there. It was very difficult to leave the country, but the persecution was also accelerated on the one hand. Every day, we read news about tortures under custody and prisons on the media…

Why Is Turkey Targeting Hizmet? Questions about Erdoğan’s Post-Coup Crackdown

In May 2009, I received an award at the International Turkish Olympiad. The event was sponsored and organized by members of the Hizmet movement and most of the performers were students of Hizmet schools abroad. When I, together with a handful of other recipients, mounted the stage to accept our awards, there to shake our hands was the smiling then prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyib Erdoğan.

Our new neighbor [Al-Qaeda] poses a great risk for Turkey

Because some European countries failed to share intelligence with Turkey on al-Qaeda militants moving through Turkey to Syria — a dynamic that turned Syria into an Afghanistan and Turkey into a Pakistan — a fairly negative outlook on Turkey emerged. Al-Qaeda and similar organizations were able to step up their presence and activity in Syria by using the Turkey-Syria border, which has become uncontrollable in recent years.

Foreword to “The Gulen Movement: Civic Service without Borders”

I have long been an admirer of Fethullah Gulen not only because he speaks of and promotes a compassionate version of Islam, but also because the movement he has inspired enables that vision by establishing educational institutions that practise and embody what they teach.

No secularism or democracy without religious freedom

The gentleman gently said: “However, dear Mr. Alpay, it was clear from the beginning that the AKP had a hidden agenda. But pundits like yourself conveyed a highly positive picture of the AKP government both at home and abroad. You have a responsibility in the situation we find ourselves today.”

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Abant tackles contentious issue of drafting new constitution

Court accepts indictment against 9 officers in case seen as political witch hunt

Gülen Movement: An Alternative to Fundamentalism

Ahmet Altan has shown which side he’s on

Ahmet Şık’s book and Ergenekon’s media campaign (1)

Wife of Calgary imam held in Turkey on coup allegations, says he still has no lawyer

Fethullah Gulen will be awarded the prestigious Manhae Grand Prize

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News