After weeks of silence, Erdoğan defends interior minister against crime boss's claims

Photo: AA

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced support for Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who has been facing accusations by crime boss Sedat Peker over the past few weeks.

"Behind the attacks targeting our Interior Minister Soylu, there is the discomfort caused by the climate of peace in the country," he told his party's parliamentary group today (May 26). "We have stood with our interior minister in the fight against criminal organizations, we are and will be standing with him.

He also said Peker's international drug trafficking claims against former PM Binali Yıldırım's son showed the "real intention" and "We will foil this plot by God's will."

A formerly pro-government figure who fled the country in late 2019, Peker has been releasing videos about state-mafia relations in Turkey since early May, attracting millions of views to each of his videos.

He targets current and former government officials, especially Interior Minister Soylu and former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar, claiming to reveal serious crimes from drug trafficking to political assassinations.

He also claims to have years-long ties to Minister Soylu, who he says had informed him about an investigation against him so that he was able to leave the country.

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The AKP had mostly remained silent about Peker's claims, which Soylu also pointed out during a program on Habertürk TV on Monday.

Then Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli, an AKP ally, announced support for the interior minister yesterday, saying that "Soylu is not alone."

Erdoğan followed him today to back the minister. He also said that the AKP waged an "uncompromising fight" against criminal organizations in 19 years and made Turkey a country where other methods other than the law don't prevail.

"The necessary answers are given by the relevant people. Chief prosecutor's offices have opened required investigations upon applications by parties," he remarked.

"We see that efforts to organize the society through criminal organizations, which was a disease of the old Turkey, are ramped up again," said the president. "They seek to clam squeeze our country both domestically and internationally through criminal organizations and to get political results from this."

Attempted attack on Akşener

Erdoğan also spoke about an attempted attack on İYİ (Good) Party Chair Meral Akşener and party members in Rize, his hometown.

"One should know where and how to take steps. This is Rize. If you insult a man of Rize, put him into the same equation with a baby killer like Netanyahu, this is what would be done," he said, referring to a previous statement of Akşener where she called PM Benjamin Netanyahu "the Israeli version of Erdoğan."

During Akşener's visit to Rize on May 20, a brawl occurred between İYİ Party members and locals, who were angry at Akşener due to her words about Erdoğan. Akşener left the province after the incident.

"They taught a good lesson to miss bride without going too far. And this shows the good manners of the people of Rize. İkizdere [district] wasn't enough, she also went to Çayeli," said Erdoğan.

"And people there did what was necessary as well. And in Trabzon, you couldn't even show up and got on the plane to return to Ankara.

"This is only the first one. Many more things will happenç these are the better days." (AS/VK)