Corruption scandal rocks Turkish government. PM fires investigators.

[Syt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25437624

Turkey PM Erdogan condemns 'dirty' corruption probe

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced a corruption inquiry as a "dirty operation" against his government.

Some 52 people - including three sons of cabinet ministers - were arrested in dawn raids on Tuesday in connection with a high-profile bribery inquiry.

Five police chiefs who oversaw raids in Istanbul and Ankara were sacked for "abuse of office", Mr Erdogan said.

"We will not allow political plotting," the prime minister said.

However, the deputy prime minister promised not to stand in the way of the judicial process.

"We will always respect any decision made by the judiciary and will not engage in any effort to block this process," Bulent Arinc said.

Commentators in Turkey believe the arrests - and subsequent firings - are evidence of a new dramatic fault-line in Turkish politics, one within the AK Party itself, the BBC's James Reynolds reports.

The feud is believed to involve supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Islamic scholar living in self-imposed exile in the US who once backed the ruling AK Party, helping it to victory in three elections since 2002.

Members of Mr Gulen's Hizmet movement are said to hold influential positions in institutions such as the police, the judiciary and the AK Party itself.

In recent months, the alliance began to come apart and in November the government discussed closing down private schools, including those run by Hizmet.

Mr Gulen has been living in the US since 1999, when he was accused in Turkey of plotting against the secular state.

'Abuse of powers'

The five police commissioners sacked include the heads of the financial crime and organised crime units, who were both involved in the earlier arrests, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reports.

Also dismissed were the heads of the smuggling unit, the anti-terrorism branch and the public security branch, the paper says.

In a brief statement, the police said they had reassigned some staff, in some cases due to alleged misconduct and others "out of administrative necessity".

The mass arrests were carried out as part of an inquiry into alleged bribery involving public tenders.

The sons of Interior Minister Muammer Guler, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan and Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar were among those detained.

Police also raided the Ankara headquarters of one of Turkey's biggest banks, state-run lender Halkbank, and the headquarters of a large construction company owned by tycoon Ali Agaoglu.

Police searching the home of detained Halkbank general manager Suleyman Aslan have found $4.5m (£2.7m; 3.2m euros) in cash hidden in shoe boxes in his library, Turkey's Dogan news agency reports.

The arrests were made as part of three separate investigations, according to Hurriyet

- An inquiry into allegations of a crime ring involving Azeri businessman Reza Zarrab (arrested), in which cabinet ministers were bribed in order to cover suspicious money transactions to Iran through Halkbank, and to obtain Turkish citizenship

- An inquiry into Abdullah Oguz Bayraktar (arrested), son of the environment minister, on suspicion that he set up a crime ring and accepted bribes from major firms in exchange for construction permits in areas under the ministry's supervision

- An inquiry into allegations that protected areas of Istanbul's Fatih district were developed illegally in return for bribes and that district mayor Mustafa Demir (arrested) allowed the construction of a hotel, ignoring negative reports from engineers and state institutions

There was no response to the allegations by those arrested.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25439839

Turkey's PM Erdogan faces threat from wounded ally

One Sunday in mid-June, my colleagues and I spent three hours trying to get out of a rally held in Istanbul by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Our car got stuck behind dozens of buses organised by Mr Erdogan's supporters.

They had been able to call in tens of thousands of demonstrators from across the country - and drive them to and from the rally.

At this point, it became clear that the prime minister would defeat protesters who had taken over Istanbul's Gezi Park.

The protesters were angry. But the prime minister was organised. In Turkey, organisation wins.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan now finds himself facing an opponent who is just as organised as he is: Fethullah Gulen.

The struggle between the two men poses a threat to Mr Erdogan's undeclared ambition to run for the presidency in 2014.

Fethullah Gulen is an Islamic scholar who founded an influential social and cultural network which now includes more than 900 schools in Turkey.

Mr Gulen himself has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999. His followers hold senior positions in the Turkish police and judiciary.

For years, the Gulenist movement worked alongside Recep Tayyip Erdogan's alliance of the working class and religious and business communities.

This broad alliance won Mr Erdogan three general elections.

The Gulen movement's loyalists formed their own informal faction within the ruling AK Party.

In recent years, the Gulenists helped the prime minister to reduce the power of the armed forces.

But, during the Gezi Park protests in June, differences between Mr Erdogan and the Gulenist movement began to emerge.

Mr Gulen's supporters accused the prime minister of governing in an authoritarian manner - a charge Mr Erdogan dismissed.

Then, in November, the government announced plans to get rid of private schools which help students to prepare for university exams, including those run by Mr Gulen's movement.

This began the period of open conflict between allies of the prime minister and those loyal to Fethullah Gulen.

On 17 December, the police carried out dawn raids against leading businessmen and allies of the prime minister.

Many here believe that these raids were orchestrated by Gulenists in the police and the judiciary.

In June 2013, Recep Tayyip Erdogan survived the challenge posed by opposition demonstrators.

But this time the challenge comes from a much more organised opponent - whose ultimate goal remains unclear.

Fetullah Gülen is described in German media as a devout, humble preacher who calls for a dialogue between religions and puts a strong emphasis on education and performance of the individual. He's been quoted as calling for the building of more schools, not mosques.

[Syt]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25516449

Defiant Turkish PM Erdogan in major reshuffle

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a major cabinet reshuffle after three ministerial resignations over a corruption inquiry.

Mr Erdogan named 10 new ministers - almost half of his total roster - after talks with President Abdullah Gul.

One of those who quit, Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar, had urged Mr Erdogan to step down himself.

Police are investigating allegations of illicit money transfers to Iran and bribery for construction projects.

Mr Bayraktar, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan and Interior Minister Muammer Guler quit after their sons were taken into custody.

All three deny any wrongdoing.

In Istanbul, protesters held a street rally against corruption in the government. There were reports of clashes with riot police late on Wednesday evening.

'Foreign plot'

Mr Erdogan submitted the new cabinet line-up to President Gul late on Wednesday.

Among those who lost his job was EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis.

He is accused of being involved in the corruption scandal - but has not been detained or formally charged.

Mr Bayraktar earlier urged the prime minister to resign too.

He insisted that "a great proportion" of construction projects that were under investigation were approved by the prime minister himself, adding: "I want to express my belief that the esteemed prime minister should also resign."

But Mr Erdogan has described the police investigation as a "dirty game". He said it was a plot by foreign and Turkish forces to discredit his government ahead of local elections in March.

But in a further blow to Mr Erdogan, MP and former interior minister Idris Naim Sahin said he was resigning from the ruling AK Party.

'Cash in shoe boxes'
The sons of Mr Caglayan and Mr Guler, along with the chief executive officer of the state-run bank Halkbank, are among 24 people who have been arrested on bribery charges.

Mr Bayraktar's son was detained as part of the inquiry but later released from custody.

Media reports say police seized $4.5m (£2.75m; 3.29m euros) in cash that was stashed in shoe boxes in the home of the bank's CEO, while more than $1m in cash was reportedly discovered in the home of Mr Guler's son, Baris.

Commentators believe the scandal stems from a power struggle between Mr Erdogan's government and an influential US-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who is said to have many followers within Turkey's police and judiciary.

Supporters regard the Hizmet movement inspired by Mr Gulen as the benign, modern face of Islam, but critics question its motives.

Mr Gulen, who has denied any involvement in the investigation, left Turkey in 1999 after being accused by the then government of plotting to establish an Islamic state. He was cleared of that charge but has never returned to Turkey and now lives in Pennsylvania.

The government has dismissed dozens of police officials who were either involved in the investigation or thought to be linked to Mr Gulen.

Journalists have been prevented from entering police buildings, leading to claims that the government is trying to impede the investigation.

According to German paper Die Zeit, Erdogan accused Zionists, the media, the internet and Lufthansa (who are jealous of Istanbul's rising importance as air traffic hub) of being behind this supposed corruptoin scandal.

[Neil]

I'm sure that Erdogan will be appointing himself president-for-life in pretty short order.

[Syt]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/turkish-authorities-purge-regulators-state-tv-employees-in-backlash-against-graft-probe/2014/01/18/a2132546-8079-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html?tid=hpModule_04941f10-8a79-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e

Turkish authorities purge regulators, state TV employees in backlash against graft probe

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has extended a purge of official organizations to the banking and telecommunications regulators and state television, firing dozens of executives in moves that appear to broaden Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's push back against a corruption investigation.

The authorities had previously reassigned thousands of police officers and about 20 prosecutors and fired some state TV officials in response to the graft probe, the biggest challenge to Erdogan's 11-year rule.

Investigators are believed to have been looking into allegations of corruption and bribery involving trade in gold with Iran and big real estate projects, although full details of their charges have not been made public.

The prime minister says the investigations, which began a month ago with arrests of high-profile figures including the sons of three of his cabinet ministers, are part of an attempted "judicial coup."

His opponents say they fear a purge of official bodies will destroy the independence of the judiciary, police and media.

"It's like reformatting a computer. They are changing the whole system and people in various positions to protect the government," said Akin Unver, assistant professor of international relations at Istanbul's Kadir Has University.

Among dozens of officials dismissed in the latest round of firings, Turkish media reported Saturday that the deputy head of the banking watchdog BDDK and two department heads had been removed.

Five department chiefs were fired at the Telecommunications Directorate, a body that carries out electronic surveillance as well as serving as the country's telecom regulator, and a dozen people were fired at Turkey's state channel TRT, including department heads and senior news editors.

A government official said the firings were for "the benefit of the public" and that more could come.

Pictures of money-counting machines and reports of cash stacked in the homes of people linked to the graft investigation have caused an uproar among the Turkish public.

Unver said the aim of the purge at the telecom watchdog could be to prevent further videos and pictures being published on the Internet. "They are seeking [to impose] a monolithic structure over the Internet," he said.

Several thousand people took to the streets in Turkey's biggest three cities Saturday demonstrating against a government-led draft bill to increase controls over the Internet. The bill would give the courts the power to rule on removing online material that "violates individual rights," an article that opponents say is murky and could lead to the arbitrary closure of Web sites.

In Istanbul's Taksim Square, where police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd, protesters called for the government to resign. Some chanted: "There are thieves around," referring to the corruption allegations.

Erdogan has suggested that the graft inquiry, which has led to the resignation of three cabinet ministers and the detention of businessmen close to the government, is an attempt to undermine his rule that has been orchestrated by Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric with influence among the police and members of the judiciary.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-19/turkish-police-fire-tear-gas2c-rubber-bullets-in-protests-agai/5207210

Turkish police fire tear gas, rubber bullets in protests against internet control, corruption

Riot police in Turkey have fired tear gas, rubber bullets and used water cannons on demonstrators in Istanbul and Ankara protesting against government plans to impose curbs on the internet.

Rights groups say the proposals, which were approved by parliament last week, amount to censorship and will increase government control of the internet.

Up to 2,000 protesters chanted "government resign" and "all united against fascism" at Istanbul's Taksim Square, some of them hurling fireworks and stones at police.

"Everywhere Taksim, everywhere resistance," they shouted, using the slogan of last June's anti-government protests that first erupted in the square.

The demonstration was organised in protest at plans to impose curbs on the internet and over the graft scandal rocking the government.

It broke up after the police action without any immediate reports of injuries or arrests.

The internet bill, which would allow officials to keep a record of the activities of web users and block keywords deemed problematic, was approved by a parliamentary committee on Thursday despite concerns about censorship.

It had raised an outcry among rights groups and even business leaders who feared the bill would further limit fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey.

But the government said it is aimed at protecting people's privacy and blocking internet content such as pornography and child sex abuse.

"This legal arrangement is by no means a regulation that brings censorship," communications minister Lutfi Elvan has said.

"With the new legal arrangement, we intend to protect individual rights."

The Islamic-leaning prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is nevertheless accused of becoming increasingly authoritarian and of trying to impose greater government controls on all sectors of the traditionally secular society.

Mr Erdogan, whose image was already bruised by last year's massive anti-government street protests, has faced more demonstrations in the wake of the damaging corruption scandal.

A string of public figures including top businessmen and the sons of three ministers were detained in December over allegations of bribery for construction projects as well as illicit money transfers to sanctions-hit Iran.

Several demonstrations have been held since last month to demand Mr Erdogan's resignation, with police on occasion firing plastic bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters.

About the internet bill:

http://www.therightperspective.org/2014/01/14/turkey-cracks-down-on-social-media/#sthash.cVoT9hIc.dpbs

Popular video websites YouTube and Vimeo were blocked in Turkey on Monday, a move that may be part of a larger crackdown on political dissent in the country.

Turkish web users trying to access YouTube on Monday were surprised to see the message, "this website has been blocked by court decision." Vimeo was blocked in Turkey by a court order last Thursday, but was accessible late on Friday after a 24-hour ban.

Turkey blocked YouTube back in March 2007, after one prosecutor found a growing number of videos insulting to the nation's modern founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, on the site.

The news comes ahead of a bill to be debated this week, which would give sweeping new powers to Turkey's communication ministry and the directorate monitoring telecommunication, or TIB, over Turkish internet service providers. Under the proposed legislation, web hosts would have to store all data relating to users' online activities for up to two years and provide this information to officials in Ankara upon their request. Officials could order access providers to block online content deemed illegal or to be "violating privacy" of a person, within only hours and without a court decision.

Slate reports Turkey has a track record of trying to clamp down on political dissent in the country. An Internet filtering system sold as a way to protect children from pornography was used to block all manner of objectionable content ranging from keywords related to the separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) to Richard Dawkins' website.

The most recent transparency report published by Google shows the Turkish government requested the removal of 9,610 items from the Internet in the first half of 2013, the most in the world and about three times as many as the United States, which had the second-most. The majority of those requests were political in nature.

[The Brain]

Dirty probes is no laughing matter.

[DGuller]

Who could've guessed that by the end of the "Arab Spring" we could actually wind up with fewer non-authoritarian regimes?  I fear like we're entering the dark times, much like 1930ies.

[Razgovory]

Who could've guessed that by the end of the "Arab Spring" we could actually wind up with fewer non-authoritarian regimes?  I fear like we're entering the dark times, much like 1930ies.

Shelf made and interesting observation about the rise of authoritarian democracies.  You'll notice that I'm not defending Erdogan over this.  These types of things are serious.

[Neil]

What does the Arab Spring have to do with Turkey?

[KRonn]

It's sad where Turkey is going politically, the erosion of freedoms and open democracy. Arresting journalists and political opponents, and all the other trappings of a rising authoritarian govt. Just time will tell how far it goes, how bad it gets.

[DGuller]

What does the Arab Spring have to do with Turkey?

Turks are not Arabs, but they're the integral part of Middle East.

[Alcibiades]

What kind of items are blocked by the US, anyone have any information on that?

[DontSayBanana]

What kind of items are blocked by the US, anyone have any information on that?

I'd assume that it's mostly DMCA takedowns with a couple kiddie porn raids thrown in the mix, but no hard stats to back that up.

[Sheilbh]

Striking that dealing with the army was apparently easier for Erdogan than dealing with the Gulen movement.

I think the most hopeful end for this is that Erdogan over-reaches and gets replaced by Gul internally.

[Valmy]

I think the most hopeful end for this is that Erdogan over-reaches and gets replaced by Gul internally.

Gul does not strike me as a politician.

[Tamas]

Striking that dealing with the army was apparently easier for Erdogan than dealing with the Gulen movement.

I think the most hopeful end for this is that Erdogan over-reaches and gets replaced by Gul internally.

A religious movement replacing a religious-leaning political party. What could go wrong?