An indictment submitted by the chief public prosecutor's office in Ankara against 12 police officers on charges of being part of an "illegal structure" was accepted by a criminal court on Wednesday.
The 12 police officers, working at the national police's Foreign Affairs Unit, are accused of being part of an illegal structure as they had been designated as "country/region police experts that were responsible for specific continents" although the official organizational chart does not contain such posts.
According to the indictment, the police officers misled their superiors to appoint those policemen and are charged with "abuse of power."
The indictment also stated that there was no data regarding the activities and links of those police officers.
Accordingly, the defendants created a "parallel structure" within the Foreign Affairs Unit, where officers simultaneously worked as regional or country police specialists and created another structure.
It is for this reason that Foreign Affairs Unit head Fatih Inalkac, deputy head Ilyas Ozgenturk and senior police officer Selami Acikgoz are accused of "misconduct in office."
With the exception of the head of the Foreign Affairs Unit, Fatih Inalkac, and deputy head, Ilyas Ozgenturk, the indictment said the activities of the officials are unknown and classified.
According to the indictment, a discretionary fund of 29,903 Turkish lira kept by the Prime Ministry, which was supposed to be used for the support and protection of the peace, was in fact used for the purchase of computers and stationary.
The indictment was prepared by Yucel Erkman, the public prosecutor for state officials' crimes, after the situation was reported to him by the Turkish National Police Force.
The parallel state, according to the government, refers to an alleged group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police, who have worked to undermine the incumbent Turkish government.