The Turkish government cannot be expected to side with those responsible for corruption, government spokesperson Bulent Arinc said Wednesday, as a comprehensive graft operation has targeted high-ranking bureaucrats and businessmen in the country.
The government supports the comprehensive graft operation that saw sons of three ministers detained, Arinc said, adding that allegations on deeper government involvement amounted to "violations of personal rights."
"We’ll back the judiciary process and investigate those involved no matter what their names and affiliations are," Arinc told journalists in a press conference in capital Ankara. "We are a government that has considered it our raison d’etre to fight corruption."
Arinc said two more prosecutors were assigned to help cope with the immensity of the operation, adding that some local security chiefs were relocated due to investigations regarding misuse of authority.
The government spokesperson indicated the campaign was planned and had motivations to discredit the government, aiming to hit them at their "forte of fighting corruption."
"Allegations against the government should be investigated thoroughly," he said. "This seemingly psychological war against the government is not compatible with judicial processes."
Arinc suggested that the government had information on who might have conducted a campaign whose timing Arinc found suspicious.
"We have an idea on to what ends this campaign is being carried out,” he said, criticizing the way different legal processes were merged and made public on the same day for greater effect, with high-ranking security chiefs left uninformed of the operation.
The comprehensive campaign based in Istanbul on corruption, bribery, and money laundering on Tuesday resulted in the detention of 52 people, pointing to involvement in the alleged criminal activities by the sons of the economy, environment and internal affairs ministers.
Arinc said his government believes the innocence of the ministers involved, but did not rule out the possibility that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may ask them to resign.
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