Almost all experienced counter-terrorism officers removed in Diyarbakır

Some 490 police officers working in the counter-terrorism units of police departments in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır were removed from their posts earlier this week, and there are currently no experienced counter-terrorism police officers left in the province.

More than 1,500 police officers working in the counter-terrorism units of Diyarbakır police departments have been removed from their posts and reassigned to less critical jobs since the Dec. 17, 2013 graft operation.

Most of these officers have been reassigned as judicial police.

A majority of the officers reassigned in Diyarbakır have over 10 years of experience in counter-terrorism.

Today's Zaman has learned that these police officers, who spent many years fighting terrorist groups, are now open targets for these same groups, as they will no longer be allowed to reside in high-security housing. These groups are mainly engaged in terrorist activities and drug smuggling. With the reassignment of police officers working in the counter-terrorism units of Diyarbakır police departments, terrorist groups are now free to conduct their illegal activities. No major operation has been launched in the province against those groups since the graft operation.

Nearly 15,000 police officers have been reassigned countrywide since the major corruption and bribery probe became public on Dec. 17 of last year. The police officers were reassigned on the grounds that they were linked to the faith-based Hizmet movement, which is inspired by the principles of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. The government has launched a large-scale campaign of defamation against the movement, which it has accused of being behind the Dec. 17 corruption scandal.

News reports state that the reassignments at the Diyarbakır police stations are being coordinated by Diyarbakır Police Chief Halis Böğürcü. Some of the reassigned police officers reportedly told Böğürcü that their lives would be at risk if they were removed from counter-terrorism units and sent to other, less protected departments. But Böğürcü did not take the issue seriously, according to the claims.

The reassigned officers were also ordered to vacate high-security housing complexes.

In addition, there are rumors of plans to load certain documents onto the computers of reassigned police officers for use in a possible legal case against the Hizmet movement. Some rooms in counterterrorism units are forbidden to anyone but officers working in those departments, unless they have an order from prosecutors. But the rule has constantly been violated since the reassignment of the police officers, according to claims. Those who enter these rooms in violation of the law are allegedly attempting to load documents onto the computers for use as a legal basis for a case against the Hizmet movement.

After the Dec. 17 corruption operation, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to “make the Hizmet movement pay for the operation.” Erdoğan says the operation was a coup attempt aiming to overthrow his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.

360 officers purged in İzmir, Erzincan

A total of 362 members of the police force in İzmir and Erzincan have been purged since the beginning of this week as part of the government's unceasing tactic of purging police officers it does not consider loyal.

Some 280 police officers, including high-level officials, have been removed from their posts in İzmir. The number of police officers removed in İzmir since the Dec. 17 graft operation now exceeds 2,000.

The purges have come upon the orders of İzmir Police Chief Celal Uzunkaya and were approved by İzmir Governor Mustafa Toprak.

In Erzincan, 82 police officers have been purged. Two of them are police officials. The purged officers were mainly working in the counter-terrorism and anti-smuggling units.

Published on Today's Zaman, 23 April 2014, Wednesday