Interior Ministry reviews firings of alleged Gulen supporters by Muslim minority mayor

Interior Minister Makis Voridis has intervened to ascertain the legality of the decision by a mayor in Rodopi, northeastern Greece to fire workers accused of being supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a self-exiled cleric and preacher that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused of masterminding a coup attempt in 2016. 

Iasmos Mayor Oder Mumin also called for the resignation of municipal officials and elected officials who are involved or associated “with the global terrorist organization FETO” – the acronym assigned by Turkey to the “Fethullahist Terrorist Organization.” 

Voridis reportedly contacted the special secretary of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia-Thrace, Ioannis Savvas, and asked him to examine any illegal actions by the mayor in order to evaluate them in their entirety. If the mayor’s actions are found to be illegal, then the minister’s decision is expected to be a permanent suspension from office.