Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the municipality of Istanbul have been embroiled in a new dispute following the Interior Ministry’s announcement that an investigation had been launched into allegations that dozens of municipal officials were linked to “terrorist organizations”.
The Interior Ministry on December 26 claimed that more than 550 municipal officials were suspected of links to “terrorist groups”, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party / Front (DHKP / C) and the Marxist Party. Communist Party (MLKP).
The ministry also claimed that some people had been linked to the U.S.-based Fethullah Gulen movement, a former ally who later became an enemy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP and accused of orchestrating the alleged July 2016.
“A special investigation has been launched by our ministry in order to investigate all aspects of the matter,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry statement came after previous statements by Interior Minister Suleiman Soilou. Soilu said 33,000 people worked in the municipality under the ruling Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the files of 12,000 of them were examined. He also claimed that dozens of staff members were linked to “terrorist organizations”.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu criticized Soilou’s allegations and said the minister was not mentally well.
The imam, who hails from the CHP, is one of the people often targeted by Erdogan and the AKP, because of his decisive victory in the Istanbul elections and for fear of an unwritten law, that he who controls Istanbul and the Ankara also controls the country’s government. Imamoglou has been repeatedly attacked for making false allegations against the AKP.
Despite these efforts, his acceptance rate is gradually increasing and, in fact, together with the equally popular mayor of Ankara, Mansour Givas, he is ahead of the Turkish president in every poll for almost a year.
The mayor on December 26 responded to the investigation launched for the staff of the municipality, saying that the ministry has suspicions about the 86,000 employees: “I support my 86,000 friends who serve Istanbul. Let us fight together those who have committed crimes. But this “It must be made known that those who attack the municipality will encounter an unexpected unity and strength,” Imamoglou wrote on Twitter on December 26th.
I said, “I am not entitled, I will not give up my right,” I say today, “I am with my 86,000 companions who serve Istanbul, I will not let them be crushed” Let’s fight together with the guilty until the end. But let it be known that; IMM will see an unexpected unity and strength in the face of those who attack the family.
– Ekrem ammamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) December 26, 2021
The municipality of Istanbul also issued a statement calling on the ministry to share the documents with the municipalities instead of launching a futile micro-political opposition: “If terrorism-linked individuals can find work in public organizations freely, “It is a problem of the Ministry of Interior which is responsible for security”, said the municipality.
“The municipality of Istanbul and its 86,000 employees will exercise their rights in the courts,” he added.
If “terror-related” people wander around and find jobs in public institutions, this problem is not the IMM’s, but the Ministry of Interior responsible for security. The most important ministries of the state should share the information and documents they have with our state institution, IMM, instead of political polemics.
— Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (@istanbulbld) December 26, 2021
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu took to Twitter to ask if the AKP was planning to seize power in Istanbul, as it had done with all pro-HDP mayors. links with terrorism.
Petros Kranias
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Source From: Capital
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