Efkan Ala

Voicing regret over "unfair international criticism" of Turkey over foreign fighters using the country as a transit point to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters, Interior Minister Efkan Ala has tasked Turkish ambassadors to "tell the world about the facts."

The so-called “parallel state,” which the Turkish government accuses of organizing a plot in last year’s corruption probe, started illegally gathering information on the government after two major crises with Israel, Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said, saying the “mind of the plot is abroad.”

It was good that the Interior Ministry’s press section issued a statement and corrected a statement attributed to Interior Minister Efkan Ala that the Turkish state has lost control of the southeastern parts of the country to the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) gang. “Such news doesn’t reflect the reality” the ministry said.