Turkish Capital Markets Board replaces key officials

ANKARA - Reuters

Analysts and economy journalists have been warning that economic management institutions could become included in the purges.

The Capital Markets Board dismissed three deputy chairmen and 11 other senior members on April 25, amid purges in state institutions since the emergence of a high-level corruption scandal.

The board, which regulates and supervises securities markets in Turkey, said in a statement that it had made the changes “in line with necessities within management.”

Analysts and economy journalists have been warning that economic management institutions could become included in the purges that were initiated by the government in response to the graft investigation involving Cabinet ministers and figures close to the government, which first surfaced on Dec. 17. 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly denounced the graft probe as a plot against his rule orchestrated by his former ally Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based Muslim cleric who has many supporters among Turkey’s police and judiciary.

Thousands of police officers and members of the judiciary have been reassigned in recent months, while members of the banking regulator have also been removed from office.