Erdoğan says Turkey can't waste time for 'crime gangs' slanders'

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has responded to the opposition's criticism over his silence about mob boss Sedat Peker's YouTube videos, which have been at the center of the country's politics since early May.

He accused the opposition of relying upon "slanders" by crime groups, saying, "It's not possible for us to accept the efforts to put the AK Party in dirty scenarios. We are the party that fights both terrorist organizations and criminal organizations."

"When we look at those who slander us, we three that three, four organizations are behind them: One of them is the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] and its seemingly civil extensions. Another is the FETÖ terrorist organization.

"Another is, for a long time, the leftovers of Armenian organizations. Now they have added criminal groups to this. All of these are fed by the same sources."

Peker, formerly a pro-government mob boss who left the country in late 2019, has been making YouTube videos on mafia-state relations in Turkey to "settle accounts" with his former allies.

He claims to reveal criminal activities involving several former and current government officials with Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu being one of his main targets.

Peker's allegations include illicit arms trade with Syrian groups, international drug smuggling, sexual assault, political assassinations and interference with legal cases.

While government officials, including the president, have dismissed some of Peker's claims, they haven't been particularly vocal about the issue that has been at the center of Turkey's politics for over a month now.

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

CLICK - All articles on Sedat Peker videos

Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said yesterday that "An important actor of the underworld makes statements. Newspapers, TVs are discussing this. No words from those who hold the power... Those who hold the power and the mafia rule the state in partnership. The third partner of the People's Alliance is the mafia."

Elections

Erdoğan also warned his party against a possible repeat of the June 15 general elections, where the AKP lost the parliamentary majority for the first time during its 19 years in power.

He claimed that the 2015 elections were the "parliamentary aspect of the dark scenario that started with the 2013 Gezi Park protests."

The 2015 elections should never be forgotten, said the president.

Recent polls show that the AKP and its ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) aren't likely to secure a majority in the next elections in 2023. (DŞ/VK)