Turkey in new regional police shakeup

ANKARA

Turkish authorities pressed on with a massive purge of police on Thursday, removing 159 officers and four department heads from their posts in a single city, local media reported.
 
The shakeup in the western province of Bursa came on the heels of a similar round of sackings or reassignments in the main cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir on Wednesday.

Two police department heads in Ankara were also removed from their posts on Jan. 23, reports said.
 
At least 2,500 police, including top officers, have been replaced since the graft scandal erupted in mid-December.
 
Dozens of prosecutors, including senior lawyers involved in the investigations into alleged money laundering, gold smuggling and bribery in real estate deals, have also been sacked.

The purges, coupled with legislation aimed at increasing government control on the judiciary and the Internet, have raised deep concern at home and abroad about the state of democracy in the majority Muslim country.