Turkey's Erdogan says graft probe "dirty operation" against govt

       
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday a corruption probe in which dozens of people have been detained was part of a "dirty operation" against his administration and linked it to a summer of anti-government protests.        

"As we fight to make Turkey in the top ten countries of the world ... some are engaged in an effort to halt our fast growth. There are those abroad ... and there are extensions of them within our country," Erdogan told a news conference.         

He said police officers removed from their posts in Istanbul on Wednesday, a day after the detention of 52 people including the sons of three cabinet ministers, had been removed for abuse of office and said more could follow in other cities.

This comes after Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said a corruption investigation in which 52 people including the sons of three cabinet ministers have been detained was part of a "planned operation" to tarnish the government.       

In the first official comments on the investigation from a senior member of the government, Arinc also said politics would not be allowed to stand in the way of the inquiry.      

He said his criticism of a wide-spread corruption investigation was not aimed at the movement of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers are influential in the police and judiciary.
   
"It is incorrect to associate a meaning to my comments that would create a confrontation with the community," he said, referring to Gulen's Hizmet (Service) movement, whose followers say they number in the millions.


REUTERS