Regime allies turn on prosecutor behind Turkey corruption probe Nedim Sener's memory of his first, and so far only, encounter with Zekeriya Oz, the driving force behind a corruption probe that has rocked Turkish politics since mid-December, is not a fond one. On March 3, 2011, Mr Sener, an award-winning journalist, was detained in an investigation into an alleged conspiracy against the Islamist-rooted government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister. In a four-hour meeting with Mr Oz, the prosecutor in charge of the probe, Mr Sener answered a list of pre-prepared questions. "I sat there, reading my answers out loud, like a student in front of a teacher," he said The following day, Mr Sener was formally charged, along with Ahmet Sik, another investigative reporter, with membership of Ergenekon, an "armed terrorist group," and the pair were jailed pending trial. Today, Mr Oz is back in the limelight for spearheading another landmark probe, this time into government corruption, bribery and tender rigging. The investigation began with a number of high-profile arrests on December 17 and has since wreaked havoc in the ranks of the ruling AK party. Three cabinet ministers have resigned and five AKP MPs have stepped down in protest at the government's handling of the investigation. A number of people with connections to the government, including the sons of two of the former ministers, a prominent businessman and the head of Halkbank, a state bank, remain in detention. But the controversy has also ensnared Mr Oz himself, who government officials suspect is linked to the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based preacher and former ally of Mr Erdogan. The prime minister has accused the Gulenists, who have many followers in the police and judiciary, and are widely held to have been the organising force behind the Erkenekon prosecution, of trying to stage a judicial coup. Pro-government media, which once lauded Mr Oz for his role in the Ergenekon case, have now turned on him with a vengeance. Sabah, a pro-government paper, has alleged that Mr Oz accepted a $32,000 holiday in Dubai paid for by one of the people he was investigating - an allegation that he denied. The allegation echoes an accusation made by Mr Erdogan, who claimed in a speech that the prosecutor went on holiday 22 times last year. The battle over the corruption probe has, in part, become a confrontation between the prosecutor and the prime minister. Mr Oz claims that Mr Erdogan threatened him via two intermediaries in the judiciary. "Those two people told me the prime minister was angry with me, I should write a letter of apology and desist immediately, or I would be harmed," he said. Mr Erdogan responded by calling the remarks "lies and slander." In a tweet posted the same day, an AKP deputy likened Mr Oz to Murat Gok, a prosecutor found dead last November, soon after launching a corruption probe. The government has also signalled that it would consider putting Ergenekon, Mr Oz's signature case, to a retrial, even though the case was until recently hailed by many AKP supporters as the final blow against military interference in the country's politics. For years critics have dismissed the case as a witch hunt against the AKP's and the Gulenists" common opponents. Oz has left Turks divided between those who believe him a victim, a victimiser, a tool in the hands of the Gulenists, or a mix of the three Since the corruption investigation began almost 2,000 police officers suspected of links to the Gulen movement have been reassigned, including 500 on Wednesday, and a prosecutor leading part of the inquiry has been removed from the case. Mr Oz has been relieved of his post and placed under investigation by the country's high council of judges and prosecutors over the allegations cited by Sabah. On Monday, Mr Oz announced he was suing the paper, as well as Mr Erdogan, for defamation, rejecting his demotion, and going on annual leave. He has left Turks divided between those who believe him a victim, a victimiser, a tool in the hands of the Gulenists, or a mix of the three. Mr Sener, who was released from jail in March 2012 after 376 days in pretrial detention, is unequivocal. The reason he and Mr Sik were arrested, he said, was because their reporting had revealed how the Gulen movement had infiltrated the police and - using Mr Oz - orchestrated the Ergenekon investigation. "If you were to ask Oz to choose between the law and Gulen, he will choose Gulen," he said. He is the man who destroyed my belief in the rule of law. But to Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a lawyer and human rights activist, Mr Oz's current predicament, including what he calls his "character assassination" at the hands of the pro-Erdogan media, is "part of a frantic struggle by the government to halt the corruption investigation." "To be honest," said Mr Cengiz, asked whether Mr Oz's inquiry may be politically motivated, "I don't care . . . What we should focus [on] is whether they have concrete evidence, whether they have concrete accusations.