Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu targets Cumhuriyet

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The allegations of Sedat Peker, who is accused of leading a criminal organization, hit the front page of Cumhuriyet newspaper today (May 11).

Shortly after these allegations and what was revealed afterwards were reported with the headline "Deep Relations," Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has targeted the newspaper on his social media account.

Compounding the abbreviations of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Soylu has tweeted: 

"Casting aspersions on the most Glorious Commander of our history of counterterrorism with the delusions of a mafia jerk and taking revenge for its partner HDPKK, Cumhuriyet newspaper; your history is the history of deep, dirty and dark relations. Turkey is not the old Turkey.

"You will be brought to account before the law."

Bir mafya pisliğinin hezeyanlarıyla
terörle mücadele tarihimizin en Şanlı Komutanına çamur atan,
ortakları HDPKK için intikam alan,
Cumhuriyet gazetesi; Sizin tarihiniz, derin, kirli ve karanlık ilişkiler tarihidir

Türkiye eski Türkiye değil

Hesabını hukuk önünde vereceksiniz

— Süleyman Soylu | Maske Mesafe↔️ Temizlik (@suleymansoylu) May 11, 2021

Why did Soylu target Cumhuriyet?

After he fled Turkey, Sedat Peker, accused of leading a criminal organization, has started sharing some videos on YouTube. In his videos, he alleged that Yeldana Kaharman from Kazakhstan, a student of Fırat University Faculty of Communication and a reporter for a local television channel in Elazığ province, was sexually assaulted by ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) MP Tolga Ağar, who is also the son of Mehmet Ağar, a former Director General of Security as well as a former Minister of Interior and Justice.

Kaharman was found dead after the incident. In his videos, Sedat Peker claimed that Kaharman had applied to the gendarmerie and filed a complaint, but the gendarmerie did not put it into force.

Following the statement of Sedat Peker on YouTube, the Gendarmerie General Command dismissed the allegations and stated that "Yeldana Kaharman had made no application to the gendarmerie and it is totally unrealistic that she was taken by a helicopter."

After Peker made these allegations, some photos of Commander of Gendarmerie Forces Arif Çetin with Tolga Ağar, with Galip Öztürk, who fled the country after his life sentence for murder was upheld by the Court of Cassation, and with gang leader Selahattin Yılmaz were revealed.

In the related news report of Cumhuriyet newspaper with the headline "Deep Relations", the photo of Commander of Gendarmerie Forces Arif Çetin and organized crime group leader Selahattin Yılmaz was used. (HA/SD)