Erdogan gains upper hand again

PRIME Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is gaining the upper hand in Turkey’s political feud by purging a police force and judiciary that helped him become the country’s most powerful leader in decades, analysts and police experts say.
Prosecutors driving the corruption probe that shook the government when it was made public in December have been shunted off the case, and thousands of police officers reassigned.
Erdogan accuses them of taking orders from his former ally, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose influence he has vowed to root out. In a sign that the plan is working, efforts by the graft investigators to widen their net have been blocked.
By dislodging the secular army as the dominant force, the alliance between Erdogan and Gulen reshaped Turkey. Now, the scale of the premier’s mobilization against the preacher threatens to do the same. In addition to the firings, his government has slapped new controls on the Internet, where leaks from the investigation were surfacing, and strengthened its grip on courts. The European Union and Turkish business groups are among those warning of the risks.
The EU has urged Erdogan to ease curbs on free speech and let judges operate independently, to revive Turkey’s membership bid. Turkey’s currency, bonds and stocks were among the world’s worst performers in the month after the corruption allegations surfaced with the detention of businessmen, officials and the sons of three Cabinet members on Dec. 17. Erdogan responded by removing ministers who were implicated in the probe, and launching a counter-offensive. The police have been subjected to the biggest overhaul.”This country’s police, prosecutors and judges are receiving orders from somewhere else,” Erdogan said on Feb. 15. “Wherever they are hiding in, we will find, expose and hold this parallel structure accountable in front of the nation.”
Erdogan has expanded the battle to the Internet. On Feb. 11, he accused parts of the police and judiciary of undermining his government with illegal wiretapping records leaked on the Internet. A recording of what sounds like Erdogan and his son Bilal discussing ways to conceal funds from the investigation was posted on YouTube Monday. The tape is an “unethical” montage, the premier’s office said in a statement on its website, vowing legal action.
Erdogan, who faces three elections in the next two years, has accused the Gulen movement of seeking to weaken his Justice and Development Party before those votes. The first test of that will be during local elections on March 30. “If the people make us the number one party, it means this government is honest,” Erdogan said on Feb. 4.