Purge scandal

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"Purge" scandal
Location Yaraa
Date Summer 1961—July 1963
Causes Attacks by the Eporisya Malosom za Yaraa
Type Political conflict
Goals End of the Eporisya Malosom za Yaraa
Methods Bribery, collusion, assassinations, coordinated attacks, bombings
Results Plot revealed on 20 July, 1963

The "Purge" scandal was a major scandal in Kryfona politics that began in the summer of 1961 when several low-ranking members of the Yaraan Kryfon's Movement began an operation which was intended to hasten the demise of the Eporisya Malosom za Yaraa. After the idea was brought up and rejected by the cautious and moderate leadership of the upper ranks of the YKM, a small group of the radical-left members resolved to enact the idea in secret. The group originally bankrolled members of the Yaraan press to negatively cover Impurists, and later branched out to hiring paid assassins, and in some cases even terrorists to work against the Impurist Movement.

Between the start of the plot in summer 1961, and when the first details of the plot were revealed in July of 1963, bankrolled assassins and terrorists committed at least 26 known bombings and 16 known assassinations, killing at least 97 Impurists. The by-far deadliest attack, which occurred on 26 June, 1963, killed 21 Impurists. The second deadliest, on 2 June, 1963, killed 7 more. As a campaign, it was the second worst string of terrorist attacks in the history of Yaraa, with the bombings by Impurists being the worst.

The plot began to unravel on 20 July, 1963, when the newspaper Nylzsryfa headlined an article about the sudden outburst of violence and in the process connected it to standing MPs Zyŏn Mekar, Heyoz Szyinid, and Ryfald Mirŏ, and conversely the YKM's higher-ups. Although all three accused MPs denied the allegations, and the report was decried by YKM leader Veim Faldŭ, subsequent reporting by other newspapers verified many of the original accusations. Less than six hours after the accusations broke, the Kryfonsparliszaiye suspended the seats of all three MPs by a vote of 52-15—the YKM being absent for voting. Rioting also occurred, resulting in the deaths of four people.

In the days after the original story, additional reports were released and other details confirmed by newspapers. On 21 July, the cover-up by those in on the plot including Zyŏn Mekar was revealed in documents published by Nylzsryfa, which included a few surviving transcripts of conversations and payments of Yaraan journalists to keep quiet on certain issues, including several of the larger bombings. In response, a YKM office in downtown Nylzsryf was firebombed. Two days later on 23 July, a bombshell of a story in the Lawvsgara Times connected the low-ranking members and the standing MPs to the funding of multiple terrorist attacks and exonerated the higher-ups of the YKM in the process. The report concluded that the leadership of the YKM was not actually aware of what was going on until the drop of the original reports by Nylzsryfa.

In the aftermath of the 23 July bombshell, Zyŏn Mekar and Ryfald Mirŏ were arrested, and the former resigned from his position. Veim Faldŭ, who was shocked by the report, immediately ordered all members of the YKM who had been identified as a part of the plot to be fired. At least 130 members of the party were fired or had their membership terminated as such.

The scandal dealt a significant blow to the prestige of the YKM in the eyes of the public, who before that point had associated the party with its support of the monarchy during the Kryfona Civil War. Faldŭ was crucified for his failure to hold his party accountable, as were many of his fellow higher-ups in the party. Sensing the turning of public opinion, Faldŭ and several of his peers resigned collectively on 25 July, in what came to be called the Thursday Night Massacre. The internally-ravaged party subsequently appointed Syinu Talga in his place on 26 July. The scandal also alienated Tyeri Awaseq, who as a result of the scandal demanded that the YKM dissolve the government of Yaraa and vacate its majority in the Yaraan parliament immediately, or otherwise be invaded. When Talga refused to do so, Awaseq ordered the invasion of Yaraa, which occurred on 1 August, 1963.

See also