Erdogan has been urging swifter and harsher response to the coup and to supporters of the U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who the government blames for the botched putsch, but Ala has been slow and rather ineffective, according to the newspaper.
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The prime minister did not give a reason for the resignation in his brief statement broadcast on Turkish television channels.
Turkish Labor and Social Security Minister Suleyman Soylu swiftly filled the Interior Ministry portfolio.
Ala’s removal comes as Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim attempt to clean up the cabinet in the wake of the attempted July 15 military coup.
Turkey has faced a series of attacks blamed on the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants, and President Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters in July that there had been clear intelligence failures in preventing last month’s failed coup attempt.
A USA defense official said the US-backed Kurdish forces had pulled back to east of the Euphrates river over the past day or so, as demanded by Ankara.
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Yildirim also confirmed that the General Vice President of the governing AK Party, Mehmet Muezzinoglu, has been appointed in Soylu’s position. Renegade military personnel made use of battle tanks and helicopters to fight loyalists to the incumbent government in Ankara and Istanbul.
