Over Three Hundred Police Officers Reassigned In Turkey

Over Three Hundred Police Officers Reassigned In Turkey

The police force in Ankara was shocked after close to 350 police officers were removed basically overnight from their positions. This represents the single largest move against the Turkish police since corruption investigations have been basically tearing the social fabric of the country apart and plunging it into a deep political crisis.

Turkish political analysts say that the reassignment is a move by current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government as he is trying to disrupt corruption investigations. This isn’t the first move agains police forces with the government led by Erdogan dismissing close to twenty high-ranking police officials.

Analysts deem the brutal intervention in the structure of police forces as a sign of an ever growing authoritarianism in the Turkish Prime Minister who has led the country for more than a decade. During his reign, Turkey managed to gain much in terms of economy but seemed to veer away from an EU partnership, or even integration choosing to establish Turkey as a leading force in the Middle East.

Turkish journalists say that the sudden and not at all subtle reshuffle of police forces comes as a desperate measure by a government who is trying to delay  or even stop all together corruption investigations.

Posted by James Fried on Wednesday January 08 2014, 4:53 AM EST. Ref: NY Times. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0