September 22, 2014

Civil servants victims of profiling, now face investigations

Many civil servants of the Ministry of Family and Social Policy who were recently found to have been blacklisted by the government are now facing investigations over baseless allegations, bureaucrats within the ministry have claimed.

Recent revelations indicate civil servants working at the Ministry of Family and Social Policy who are believed to be associated with the Hizmet movement, which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused of plotting against his government, had been profiled and blacklisted. Such individuals were given the code “111,” according to news reports. Many of these people are now facing investigations.

The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, which is facing major allegations of bribery and graft, has accused the Hizmet movement of being behind the allegations against it. It has responded by purging police officers, members of the judiciary and civil servants whom it believes are close to Hizmet, which President Erdoğan refers to as a “parallel structure,” from state agencies.

Most recently, it has emerged that suspected members of the so-called “parallel structure” who are employed at the Ministry of Family and Social Policies had been profiled by the ministry. Recent reports from the victims indicate that many civil servants of the Inspection Services Administration, a unit of the ministry, are now facing investigations which might lead to their removal from office.

Sources from the ministry said hundreds of letters from anonymous tipsters on domestic violence, sexual abuse of children at state homes and similar issues are regularly ignored by the ministry's inspectors. However, the ministry has been quick to launch an investigation into dozens of bureaucrats who the government believes are close to the Hizmet movement, a social movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

An inspector who requested anonymity said: “These investigations can also end our own careers. We are being forced to give punishments for made-up reasons.” The same inspector said Interior Minister Efkan Ala had personally ordered the ministry's inspectors to start investigations into ministry staff labeled “111.”

Published on Cihan, 22 September 2014, Monday

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