Major reshuffle replaces Gaziantep police chief

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

A major reshuffle at the National Police Department has changed the police chiefs of the 30 provinces, while three new deputies have been appointed for the national police.

Under the reorganization, which went into force after being published in the Official Gazette Aug. 7, 13 provincial police chiefs, including Gaziantep Police Chief Süleyman Oğuz, have been appointed to work at the Police Department headquarters in Ankara.

The Gaziantep police most recently came to national attention due to debates over the possibility that intelligence failures facilitated a deadly bombing in the southeastern province of Gaziantep on Aug. 20. At the time, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) accused the former head of Gaziantep’s police intelligence unit of negligence.

AKP Gaziantep Deputy Şamil Tayyar had pointed out that Önal was appointed to Hatay just days before the bombing that killed nine and wounded dozens more.

“Information that the vehicle [carrying the bomb] was to head for Gaziantep came from Şanlıurfa two weeks before the attack. The police intelligence chief was on duty in Gaziantep at that moment, but the Gaziantep police could not find the car,” Tayyar said at the time. The reshuffle comes at a time when the government is moving toward increasingly security-oriented policies, including strengthening military measures against terrorist attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).