Erdogan reshuffle fails to impress opposition, new allegations of Turkish police corruption

117 views
The last few days have seen a dramatic turn of events in Turkey as an ongoing scandal claimed the heads of three ministers and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan replaced half of his cabinet ministers with arch-loyalists.

Huge anti-government demonstrations are planned for Friday, with many saying this is the worst crisis in the AK party’s 10 years in power. Now there are accusations that branches of the state are at war with each other, with a state prosecutor alleging police obstruction of a corruption case in an open letter to the Turkish press.

He alleges he issued arrest warrants for a number of celebrities, including it is rumoured Erdogan’s son, on accusations of bribery. The prosecutor then claims the police warned those due to be arrested so they could flee.

Already there have been street protests about the corruption allegations. Erdogan’s enemies will be seeking to exploit his current weakness, which is also a national one as the Turkish currency is being hammered on the foreign exchanges and the stock market is falling over fears of political instability.