Turkish authorities today arrested 55 senior police officers in a criminal probe over alleged corruption and abuse of office, the latest apparent crackdown on opponents of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of presidential polls, television reports said.
Forty serving and former top police officers were arrested in Istanbul, including the former head of the anti-terror unit of Istanbul police, Omer Kose.
Fifteen others were arrested elsewhere, in what the reports said was a new sweep against the movement of Erdogan's former ally Fethullah Gulen in the wake of a vast corruption scandal implicating the prime minister and his inner circle.
