Don't know if they can be removed, but if you attempt it - and what do you have to lose at this point? - rename them instead, or move them to a temp directory.
You may be on to something about those files being leftover. I opened synaptic and there are a lot files that seem to related to what you have deleted to date. By not removing them with apt/synaptic there could be plenty of leftover files - you may have created a bunch of orphans. You can open synaptic on our system and see if a bunch of packages show as broken.
and yes, you may be unraveling the sweater.
You may be on to something about those files being leftover. I opened synaptic and there are a lot files that seem to related to what you have deleted to date. By not removing them with apt/synaptic there could be plenty of leftover files - you may have created a bunch of orphans. You can open synaptic on our system and see if a bunch of packages show as broken.
and yes, you may be unraveling the sweater.