Turkish police chiefs removed from posts amid graft investigation

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/08/turkish-police-chiefs-sacked-graft-investigation

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Turkey's deputy police chief was sacked overnight, the most senior commander yet targeted in the purge of a force heavily influenced by a cleric whom the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, accuses of plotting to seize the levers of state power.

Erdoğan's AK party sent plans to parliament allowing the government more say over the appointment of prosecutors and judges.

Erdoğan argues that a judiciary and police in the sway of the Hizmet (Service) movement of Fethullah Gülen contrived a graft investigation that is shaking his administration.

The police website said the deputy head of the national police, Muammer Bucak, and provincial chiefs, among them the commanders in the capital, Ankara, and the Aegean province of Izmir, were removed from their posts.

The government has purged hundreds of police since the graft scandal erupted on 17 December, with the detention of dozens of people including businessmen close to the government and three cabinet ministers' sons. Among those questioned, most have been released. A remaining 24, including two of the ministers' sons, remain in custody, according to local media.

Details of the allegations have not been made public, but are believed to relate to construction and real estate projects and Turkey's gold trade with Iran, according to Turkish newspaper reports citing the prosecutors' documents.

The affair, which has exposed a rift within the Turkish political establishment, has hit market confidence, driving the lira to new lows. Ratings agency Fitch warned strains on institutional integrity were among the factors that could weaken Turkey's creditworthiness.

Erdoğan has in the past referred to a foreign-backed interest rate lobby, or "chaos lobby", trying to force Turkey into raising rates and slowing down its economy.

Turkey's government bond curve briefly inverted on Tuesday, short-term yields rising above long-term yields, a rare phenomenon showing traders were betting on an emergency interest rate hike to support the lira. But bonds returned to more normal levels on Wednesday after the finance minister, Mehmet Simsek, appeared to rule out a rate hike.

Continued uncertainty or instability could present hazards for the region, where Ankara has extended its role under Erdoğan. Turkey borders Iraq, Iran and Syria and hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

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