I will not let you devour my thief

MEHMET Y. YILMAZ myy@hurriyet.com.tr

The police officers in the Aegean city İzmir conducting the corruption and bid rigging operation were removed from duty.

Among those police who were conducting the bribery and corruption investigation launched in Istanbul, none of the original staff remained; all of them were relocated to other posts.

Those police who intercepted and wanted to search the TIR truck with an unknown load in the southern province Hatay are now engaged in different duties.

Prosecutors conducting the investigation are also under similar pressures. Some are removed from duty; others are subject to releasing of personal files prepared beforehand.

It was this government that brought them to these posts; now, it is the same government that removes them from their posts. The government, in a way, has started a witch hunt on the grounds that “they have formed a parallel structure.”

And they want us to believe that this is being done to cleanse the police and the judiciary from the “community” structure.

If they had done the same thing during the “Deniz Feneri” (Lighthouse) investigation, we may have believed it; but, now, excuse me, we happen to know why this is being done.

Now, each police and each prosecutor in this country knows that if they ever touch any corruption file, they will be burned down to ashes!

Even if they might not be dragged to courts like the prosecutors of Deniz Feneri, they know that several files about them would be disclosed.

Which police will dare to be exiled in these harsh winter months and conduct his/her “legal law enforcement duty” in corruption investigations?

You will remember what the prosecutor in the Deniz Feneri case Abdülvahap Yaren said about “an emperor of the thieves who both protects his own thieves and at the same time prevents the investigations from reaching all the way to himself.”

That person is causing a storm with the bullying phrase of “I will not let them sacrifice my thief.”

Removing from post is not enough

The government woke up with the corruption and bribery investigation and said the Fethullah Gülen community formed a parallel structure within the state and that this structure was trying to incapacitate the government.

 This is an extremely serious claim. If there is such a structure, then it has to be uncovered and tried. There is no doubt in this and I am supporting the legitimate government in this matter.

The number of police that the government has removed from their posts in the clamp down against the community is over 1,000. It looks as if this number will increase. And a large portion of these police are officials who hold important positions.

Similar operations are expected or have already begun in other ministries.

It was done in the Finance Ministry, I do not know if it will continue there; but there are rumors that the same will be done among governors and district governors.

The adjustment they want to do at HSYK is also the same.

The measure to be taken before such a serious claim is not limited to only removing officers from their posts. To be content with removal only is covering up a crime if there is one.

The government should turn in the information it has to the office of the prosecutor so that the justice will decide what is happening; so at the end, we will also know what has gone on.

Mehmet Y. Yılmaz is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece was published on Jan. 9. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.