A police officer was arrested for trying to stage a riot in the northern province of Karabük in an ingenious scheme to avoid being reassigned to another city.
Salim S., a member of law enforcement who is accused of being linked to the shady Gülen Movement, allegedly contacted a university student to organize an unauthorized protest that would eventually descend into a riot and would necessitate intervention by police. Thus, he would avoid being posted to a place in southeastern or eastern Turkey where recent bouts of violence by the terrorist organization PKK saw the emergency deployment of police forces from other cities.
An SMS conversation between the police officer and the university student he was acquainted with shows he asked the student if there was "any group to stage a Suruç protest," referring to the town in the southeastern Turkey where a suicide bombing on July 20 killed 32 people. "If there isn't any protest, they will deploy me to the east. A protest of 40 people would be enough. [My superiors] will be concerned then and keep us here," he wrote.
The incident was revealed after the student filed a complaint to the police. Salim S. was detained based on the evidence of the SMS messages.
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