Police chief dismissal a political intervention into bribery probe: Ruling AKP deputy Günay

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Ertuğrul Günay has said that the three ministers whose sons have been detained should resign. CİHAN photo

The dismissal of the police chiefs involved in the ongoing bribery probe represents a political intervention into the prosecutions, ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Ertuğrul Günay has said, also adding that the three ministers whose sons have been detained should resign.

“When a person, who is under investigation, is making shifts in the police department when the operation is ongoing, it is an intervention into the prosecution, an unforgettable violation of law and crime,” Günay wrote via his Twitter account on Dec. 20.

Günay’s remarks followed the Dec. 17 raids conducted by Istanbul and Ankara police as part of the probe into tender fraud and bribery allegations. Over 80 people, including the sons of Interior Minister Muammer Güler, Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar and Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, have been detained so far.

 “The attitude taken toward developments must not result in a change of the current police force make up, or of members of the judiciary,” Günay tweeted, stressing that “the results will be serious if the intervention into the police and judiciary overshadows the trust in justice.”

“It is in line with law and order for the prosecutors managing the probe not to inform the executive power. Those who complain about this cannot become a legal person or even a gatekeeper,” he added.

Fourteen heads of police departments have been removed from their posts by the government since the operation was launched on Dec. 17, while two additional prosecutors have been assigned to the case.

Günay, who is a former culture and tourism minister, also said the government figures involved in the corruption investigation should resign. “First of all, those whose names are involved in the claims in the investigations should resign. It is wrong to accuse those who reveal the corruption before doing this [resigning],” he said.

“Millions of AKP voters hoped for a country developing with ‘justice.’ If there are those who take advantage of these hopes, they have to serve their punishment,” Günay said. He added that everyone must face the results of their actions “according to the rule of law” and stressed that it was unfair to bring a whole party under suspicion for “the actions of a few people.”