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THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT laid off 350 police officers in Ankara overnight, including heads of major departments, amid a vast corruption scandal that has ensnared key allies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, local media reported on Tuesday.
The officers were sacked by a government decree published at midnight and included chiefs of the financial crimes, anti-smuggling, cyber crime and organised crime units, the private Dogan News Agency reported.
The move comes as the government is trying to contain the high-level corruption probe that poses the biggest threat to Erdogan’s 11-year rule.
It has also exposed the influence of an exiled Muslim scholar on Turkey’s halls of power and his byzantine relationship with the government.
Tensions
The investigation is believed to be linked to simmering tensions between Erdogan’s government and followers of influential Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the United States.
Gulen followers hold key positions in various government branches including the police and judiciary.
Erdogan has denounced the investigation as a foreign-hatched plot to bring down his government and has responded by sacking hundreds of police officials across the country, including the Istanbul police chief, since the probe first burst into the open in mid-December.
Erdogan’s critics accuse him of desperately trying to protect his cronies, and the appointment of Selami Altinok, a little-known governor with no background in police work, as Istanbul’s new police chief was further seen as an attempt to shut down the investigation.
Bribes
The crisis erupted on December 17 when police arrested dozens of people including sons of former ministers and the chief executive of Turkey’s state-run Halkbank. They are suspected of numerous offences including accepting and facilitating bribes for development projects and securing construction permits for protected areas.
Erdogan has vowed to battle “a state within a state”, apparently referring to Gulenists in the state apparatus and said he would not allow parallel structures.
Gulen, who has been living in self-imposed exiled in the US state of Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied any involvement in the controversial inquiry. His followers were key backers of Erdogan’s AKP when it came to power in 2002.
The turmoil has rattled Erdogan’s government ahead of key local polls in March and plunged the Turkish lira to an all-time low.
The graft probe has also exposed bitter fault lines in Erdogan’s traditional power base and prompted calls from both his own party and opposition parties for the resignation of the entire government.
The European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, urged Turkish authorities to address the graft allegations in an “impartial manner”.
- © AFP 2014.
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Clean all the rats out
If they did that over here, about 5000 garda would be sacked. A corrupt organisation with no morals
If they did that who would the state have to enforce policy’s and attempt to issue fines
As every Manchester United fan looks on enviously at turkey….. “sacked in the morning….. Your getting sacked in the morning….!”
Source?!
Only kidding.
Ahhh Fethullah Gulen, notorious godfather of Islamic extremism in Turkey, with 100′s if not 1000′s of Jihad schools across the globe, worth 20 billion if I remember correctly and living quite close to Langley Virginia, so the US is turning its back on Erdogan if I’m reading this article correctly, time for another mass popular uprising I think, I wonder will the US stand idly by this time, maybe they will send the proxy army Al-Qaeda in to destroy the country..
Golden, he lives in saylorsburg Pennsylvania which is nearly 400 miles from Langley!
That’s quite close for a Muslim terrorists standards don’t you think?
I mean it’s a lot closer than a cave in Afghanistan for example…
Wow u must b really educated
*you must be really educated…if you’re going to be smart at least try and look it.
Gülen condemns any kind of terrorism. He warns against the phenomenon of arbitrary violence and aggression against civilians, that is terrorism, which has no place in Islam and which militates against its very foundational tenets of reverence for human life and for all of God’s creation. Fethullah Gulen was the first Muslim Leader to openly condemn the 9/11 terrorist attacks.[citation needed] He wrote a condemnation article in the Washington Post on September 12, 2001, just the day after the attack, and stated that “A Muslim can not be a terrorist, nor can a terrorist be a true Muslim.”Gülen lamented the deplorable hijacking of Islam by terrorists who claimed to be Muslims and acting out of religious conviction. He counseled that “One should seek Islam through its own sources and in its own representatives throughout history; not through the actions of a tiny minority that misrepresent it.
Very good Declan, I see you have mastered Googles’ search engine and copy n paste
So what if I did? How else can I quote him? You are just making things up!
Well you could dig a little deeper than wikipedia for a start, there you will see his roots in Islamic extremism, the fact he was facing deportation from the United States until a few high ranking CIA buddies stepped in and gave him glowing references, how his Madrasas have been shut down and he has been investigated in many different countries etc etc, why would I make this stuff up?
Yes golden, why do you make things up? You criticized me for using google and copy and paste but you put up links to YouTube.
Then you make this claim that he lives near Langley?!
Does he have links to terrorism now?
Yes Declan. I’ll leave it there now. lol….
Golden, I’ve read a few more articles about him and what I’m getting is that there is some controversy or criticism about the charter schools that he is linked to. There is no mention of madrasa schools. It does mention the links that he has in turkey. The FBI has investigated his schools in the US.
So your original comment linking him to Afghanistan, terrorism and living next door to Langley and he has buddies in the CIA seems a bit far fetched to me
Declan I’m sure you realise that mentioning Afghanistan was only for an effect in comparison with living a few hours drive away from CIA HQ, and regards the attempted deportation of the man was not helped by a former high ranking CIA official giving him a glowing reference.
Turkey has complied willingly, it’s now time for the EU to allow Turkey full membership of the European Union. They’ll absolutely adore the Irish benefits system.
Turkey is sliding away from democracy again. Now is not the time.
Indeed…. Erdogan has become corrupted but looks like will remain in power.
The disenfranchised turn to islamist parties for an alternative.
Turkey needs to show it can function as a secular democracy, not just appear like one.
Then I’d be happy to have it in the EU as its a fine country & people, but that time is not now.
He is in the Islamist party! The disenfranchised are the people protesting against his government. And he’s just getting rid of anyone who might pose a real threat to his rule, 400 military personnel and 350 cops so far. Not to mention brutal crackdowns on protests!
70m turks in the EU?
No thanks.
Think it’s closer to 80 million. Even more, no thanks. Particularly now that most of those 80 million are NOT urban secular and educated like in Istanbul, but are poor, rural, uneducated with Islamist leanings.
I can’t help but be a little jaded with Erdogan after his disappointing turns towards authoritarianism in recent years. Any hopes that the man could forge a “Muslim Democrats” political identity akin to the CDU in Germany have been sadly displaced.
Shame alright.
It was looking good for a while.
Stutters
Wow , can we do this. to Kildare street.
Does “self imposed exile” actually make any sense? Or does it just sound better than “went to live in America”?
Alan shatter must have shockin bad asthma
I don’t mind turkey’s at Xmas but draw the line at claiming social welfare
Think “Self imposed exile” usually indicates some sort of self preservation until the revolution a la Lenin and the Ayatollah.
There should be no room for corruption in Government TDs, Civil Servants or Government appointees.
The Irish Government should introduce legislation that any Government TD , Civil Servant Oprah Government Appointee should be dismissed without compensation or pension rights if found guilty of taking bribes or fiddling expenses!
Time for honesty and transparency.
Can the FG led Government deliver?
Time will tell!
have your say