Prison Administration Censors Letter on Gang Leader Peker's Relation with Government

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Some parts of the letter sent to bianet by Tamer Korkmaz, an inmate at Van Prison, were missing. We could tell that from unfinished sentences at the end of some pages.

One unfinished sentence was about the ban imposed on another letter about the relation between the government and Sedat Peker, a gang leader.

The sentence reads, "In the partial ban order on a letter that came from Ercan Kutlu, [it was stated that] on the ground of '...targeting the government by attributing unfair detentions or lifestyle of one group, people and happenings to the government, attempting to encourage people to be a revolutionary and to revolt against the country...'. ..that Erdoğan is in relations with the mafia and that Sedat Peker received support from the government..."

The next page of the letter has not reached bianet.

About Sedat Peker

After sought by the police for seven months for "collecting money with threats," "forcible detention," and "instigating a murder," Sedat Peker was brought to Turkey from Romania on August 19, 1998.

Along with 12 other defendants, he was charged with "forming a gang" and faced 7.5 years in prison. He was released on May 24, 1999.

He was sentenced to prison in two of three cases against him.

Peker also stood trial in the Ergenekon case for "forming an armed organization." On August 5, 2013, İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Peker to 10 years in prison.

After a law change on the authorities of the specially authorized courts, a court released him on March 10, 2014, considering that he was remanded in custody for over five years.

In June 2015, footage showing Peker and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chatting emerged. "The moment in this photograph was an important breaking point for my normalizing in society. In the period I experienced, I will remain grateful to Mr. President," Peker said about the footage.

In October 2015, Peker threatened the Academics for Peace, who released a declaration on the conflict in the southeast, titled, "We will not be a party to this crime."

In a rally in support of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Peker said, "Their blood will be shed in streams as if the carotid artery of the Earth is cut." He used the same expression, targeting the academics: "I repeat, we will shed your blood in streams and will take a bath in your blood."

He stood trial for these words and was acquitted.

Ahead of the local elections in March 2019, he called on the people to acquire weapons.

About a month ago, he confirmed reports that he was settled in a Balkan country. He is still abroad. (AS/VK)