Turkey has sacked another 25 police chiefs as part of a fast-moving inquiry into an alleged bribery scandal that has ensnared cabinet ministers and businessmen, local media reported yesterday.
Scores of people have been detained in connection with the probe, prompting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to respond with a deep purge of the police, a force he once bolstered to counter the army's influence.
He has sacked dozens of police officials for cooperating with the investigation without permission. His critics accuse him of desperately trying to protect his cronies.
Erdogan has said he is battling "a state within a state" and described the corruption probe as a smear operation against his Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.