Police Department Sends Almost 300 Senior Officers Into Retirement

- Authorities in Turkey have staged a large purge of the police forces, forcing close to 300 officers into retirement amid a recent upsurge in violence directed at the police by out-lawed groups.

According to decisions made at a supreme board meeting chaired by Turkish National Po-lice Chief Celalettin Lekesiz late on Aug. 13, 118 chief superintendents and 148 superintendents have been retired.

Among the 118 chief superintendents, 13 were first-degree, 16 were second-degree, 49 were third-degree and 40 were fourth-degree officers.

The board also decided to promote 444 third-degree chief superintendents to second-degree, 419 fourth-degree chief superintendents to third-degree and 306 superintendents to fourth-degree chief superintendents.

The decisions went into force after it was approved by Interior Minister Sebahattin Öztürk.

A massive purge involving almost 1,800 police officers took place in April as part of the fight against the Fethullah Gülen community, whose sympathizers were believed to be de-ployed within the police and judiciary to serve the interest of the community instead of the government.