Controversial police chief gets promoted

HATAY - Doğan News Agency

A police commissioner who was responsible for the lining up of 23 police officers in order to identify one who had allegedly insulted his friend has been promoted. DHA photo

A police commissioner who was responsible for the lining up of 23 police officers in order to identify one who had allegedly insulted his friend has been promoted.

Mustafa Marangoz has been promoted from 3rd level chief of police to 2nd level, and was also promoted to become Hatay Province’s deputy police manager after the incident. The incident that sparked debate occurred last week when Ömer Uzun, the head of the AKP’s youth branch in Hatay, who also runs a cafeteria at a police station in the province’s Dörtyol district, had an argument with police officer Alper Atilla.

In the heat of the argument, Uzun allegedly threatened Atilla and said he would “send him into exile” before ordering him to take off his uniform. Uzun then called his friend İstemi Kağan Türkoğlu, who subsequently arrived at the scene and threatened the officers in question.

Deputy Police Inspector Murat Emer intervened and told Türkoğlu that he could “not talk that way to his officers.” The Dörtyol police chief Mustafa Marangoz subsequently called a number of policemen, including Emer, into his office where he had them line up in front of a wall holding up numbers so that Türkoğlu could identify the officer who had argued with him. According to reports, Emer was removed from duty and reassigned to Hatay’s Kumlu district the following day so that “a proper investigation” could be conducted. Atilla, meanwhile, was reassigned to Hatay’s Altınözü district.Police chief Mustafa Marangoz’s promotion has been put on hold while the investigation is ongoing.