Hurriyet Daily News on Tuesday reported that Turkey’s parliament, which is controlled by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), had established what the outlet described as a “single inquiry commission… dominated by the [AKP] itself,” to investigate graft charges against four former AKP ministers from the government of AKP Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The session that established the inquiry, which will be chaired by an AKP deputy, was described as “tense.”
At stake are allegations that stem from an extended bout of open political warfare, stretching back to late 2013, in which judiciary and police figures linked to the Islamist movement of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen launched a series of corruption investigations that eventually ensnared a range of AKP elites, including Erdogan and members of his family. Erdogan and his allies responded by purging literally thousands of judges and police officers.
Late last week the head of Turkey’s Financial Crime Investigation Board was dismissed in what Hurriyet described “as part of the whirlwind of purges in the Finance Ministry” :
MASAK President Mürsel Ali Kaplan has become the latest high-ranking official to be replaced as part of the government-led reshuffle operation in key state institutions.
The heads of two other prominent Finance Ministry units, Revenue Administration General Director Mehmet Kilci and Budget and Control General Director İlhan Hatipoğlu reportedly also removed from their offices.
The government has waged war with bureaucrats suspected of having ties with Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who was accused of “establishing a parallel state” and being behind the Dec. 17, 2013 graft investigation that charged four ministers, their sons and dozens of pro-government businessmen and bureaucrats.
At least two other top figures from the Finance Ministry were also removed.
Meanwhile Ankara’s chief prosecutor’s office announced that it was launching a probe of Gulen himself for attempting to overthrow the government. News subsequently emerged that Erdogan had reached the decision, after a five-hour session of top AKP figures, that he would run in Turkey’s direct presidential election, currently scheduled for August.
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