Turkish PM announces ‘crisis centers’ amid concerns over wrongful post-coup prosecutions

ANKARA

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Crisis management centers will be set up across the country in order to combat wrongful prosecutions made as part of the investigation into the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has announced.

With the Prime Ministry Undersecretariat in first place, the government will set up crisis management centers in local governor’s offices for applications from people “who believe they have been wrongfully targeted” in the anti-FETÖ probe, Yıldırım stated on Sept. 8, amid concerns that the post-coup probe is embroiling individuals not involved in the coup plot. 

“If there have been any wrongdoings in these operations, anything against the law, we’ll look into it,” he added.

The prime minister said the government understands that “100 percent precise action” in the anti-FETÖ operations is impossible, as the group’s members are “tight-lipped” and often difficult to identify.

Yıldırım acknowledged complaints that careful distinctions were often not being made in the post-coup attempt probe, and he stressed the importance of prosecutors, judges and governors acting “within the law, not with revenge.”

He also repeated the government’s line that the Dec. 17 and 25 corruption probes targeting senior government figures mark a milestone for the anti-FETÖ investigation, with officials who maintained ties to the Gülenists after the graft probes brought under suspicion.

A total of 79,900 civil servants have been suspended and 5,014 have been dismissed with state of emergency decrees since the failed July 15 coup attempt.

The dismissed personnel were evaluated to be members of or have contact with structures or groups that are determined by the National Security Council (MGK) to be acting against the national security of the state.

Meanwhile, in his speech to provincial governors, Prime Minister Yıldırım called on governors in eastern and southeastern Turkey to take steps municipalities “that are linked to terrorism.”

“Please do not be hesitant in this regard. Do not allow the country’s resources to be turned into bullets [against] the security forces. This is a huge responsibility,” he said.        

Yıldırım was referring to a statutory decree published last week that authorized governors to confiscate the movable assets of any municipalities or affiliated bodies found to have used their resources to provide direct or indirect support to acts of terror or violence. The measure targeted municipalities led by the Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey’s southeast.  

A total of 79,900 civil servants have been suspended and 5,014 have been dismissed with state of emergency decrees since the failed July 15 coup attempt.

The dismissed personnel were evaluated to be members of or have contact with structures or groups that are determined by the National Security Council (MGK) to be acting against the national security of the state.