About 350 police officers have been sacked in Turkey’s capital Ankara, following a corruption probe targeting people close to the government, reports say.

Officials, mostly from outside the city, have been named to replace them.

Hundreds of police have been dismissed or reassigned across Turkey since last month’s corruption investigation. Three cabinet ministers resigned after their sons were detained in the raids.

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the police and judiciary of a “dirty plot”.

The arrests were carried out as part of an inquiry into alleged bribery involving public tenders, which included controversial building projects in Istanbul.

Hundreds of police have been dismissed or reassigned across Turkey since last month’s corruption investigation

Those detained in the December 17 raids included more than 50 public officials and businessmen – all allies of the prime minister.

The latest round of police sackings and reassignments were carried out under a government decree published at midnight.

Those removed from their posts include chiefs of the financial crimes, anti-smuggling and organized crime units, the private Dogan News Agency reported.

The move comes as the government is trying to contain the fall-out from the corruption inquiry.

Many believe the arrests and firings reflect a feud within Turkey’s ruling AK Party between those who back Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Islamic scholar living in self-imposed exile in the US.

Members of Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet movement are said to hold influential positions in institutions such as the police, the judiciary and the AK Party itself.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he would not allow “political plotting”.

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Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced a corruption inquiry as a “dirty operation” against his government.

Some 52 people – including three sons of cabinet ministers – were arrested in dawn raids on Tuesday in connection with a high-profile bribery inquiry.

Five police chiefs who oversaw raids in Istanbul and Ankara were sacked for “abuse of office”, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

“We will not allow political plotting,” he said.

However, the deputy prime minister promised not to stand in the way of the judicial process.

“We will always respect any decision made by the judiciary and will not engage in any effort to block this process,” Bulent Arinc said.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denounced the corruption inquiry as a “dirty operation” against his government

Commentators in Turkey believe the arrests – and subsequent firings – are evidence of a new dramatic fault-line in Turkish politics, one within the AK Party itself.

The feud is believed to involve supporters of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Islamic scholar living in exile in the US who once backed the ruling AK Party, helping it to victory in three elections since 2002.

Members of Fethullah Gulen’s Hizmet movement are said to hold influential positions in institutions from the police and secret services to the judiciary and the AK Party itself.

In recent months, the alliance began to come apart and in November the government discussed closing down private schools, including those run by Hizmet.

Fethullah Gulen has been living in the US since 1999, when he was accused in Turkey of plotting against the secular state.

The five police commissioners sacked include the heads of the financial crime and organized crime units, who were both involved in the earlier arrests, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reports.

Also dismissed were the heads of the smuggling unit, the anti-terrorism branch and the public security branch, the paper says.

In a brief statement, the police said they had reassigned some staff, in some cases due to alleged misconduct and others “out of administrative necessity”.

The mass arrests were carried out as part of an inquiry into alleged bribery involving public tenders.

The sons of Interior Minister Muammer Guler, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan and Environment Minister Erdogan Bayraktar were among those detained.