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Turkish police behind 2013 corruption probe get life
ISTANBUL, March 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Turkish court handed life sentences
Monday to 15 people who accused members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
inner circle of involvement in a 2013 corruption scandal, local media
reported.
Four former police chiefs were among those convicted by a court in Istanbul
for “attempting to topple the Turkish government”, the official Anadolu news
agency reported.
The affair that sparked the trial involved tape recordings that
purportedly implicated Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time, and
several of his ministers.
It created one of the biggest challenges for the Turkish leader and forced
three members of his cabinet to quit.
But Erdogan called the tapes a “fabrication”, accusing US-based Muslim
cleric Fethullah Gulen of contriving a scandal to topple him.
His government dismissed thousands of police officers and hundreds of
judges and prosecutors running the corruption case. Nearly 70 people
subsequently went on trial.
On Monday, the Istanbul court also handed out jail sentences to other
defendants for “membership of an armed terror group” and “illegal tapping”,
Anadolu reported.
Erdogan’s government also blames Gulen and his followers for the failed
July 2016 coup, something Gulen has strongly denied.
Turkish authorities have launched a mass crackdown in the wake of the
failed coup.
They detained tens of thousands of people over alleged ties to Gulen and
sacked or suspended more than 140,000 public sector workers.
BSS/AFP/RY/1930 hrs