Istanbul police chief dismissed after arrests in corruption case

Hüseyin Çapkin says he has been removed from post and recalled to Ankara, after allies of PM caught up in inquiry
Istanbul police chief
Hüseyin Çapkin leaves a police station in Istanbul. Photograph: Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images

Istanbul's most senior police official was dismissed on Thursday, days after police launched raids that detained dozens of people including the sons of three government ministers.

The police chief Hüseyin Çapkin confirmed to journalists that he had been removed from his post and recalled to the capital, Ankara.

The government has dismissed dozens of other police officials in Ankara and Istanbul, including some who oversaw the raids in a corruption and bribery investigation, raising criticism from opposition parties that the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is attempting to cover up a scandal.

Police detained 51 people for questioning on Tuesday, including the chief executive of a state-owned bank and the mayor of an Istanbul district that is an Erdoğan stronghold. Nine people were released without charges on Wednesday after questioning.

Erdoğan says the investigation is a conspiracy to harm his government's reputation as elections approach and has promised to go after the forces he says have instigated the plot.

His government, now into its 11th year in power, has won three successive elections on the strength of Turkey's relatively robust economy and partly by portraying a clean image. In March Turkey will hold local elections, which are being seen as a vote of confidence in the government.

On Wednesday the government promised it would not impede the investigation, despite the police officials' removal. The government has appointed two new prosecutors to lead the investigation.

Many believe the inquiry was instigated by a movement led by an influential US-based Turkish Muslim cleric, which once supported Erdoğan's government but now appears to be in a dispute with the prime minister. The movement is reported to have a strong influence within Turkey's police and judiciary. The cleric, Fetullah Gülen, has denied he is behind the investigation.

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