New revelations by Sedat Peker as he postpones video about Erdoğan due to Biden meeting
In the two new videos he released on the weekend, exiled mob boss Sedat Peker targeted a businessperson with family ties to the president, the interior minister and others.
Peker was again at a different place with different items on his table in yesterday's video.
Latest in the Sedat Peker saga:
• On Wednesday, Peker announced that he had postponed the release of a video about President Erdoğan until after his meeting with US President Joe Biden on June 14.
• On Saturday, Peker released the recording of a video call with Serdar Ekşioğlu, a businessperson and a distant relative of the president. In the call, he confirms what Peker previously said about weapons delivery to Syria.
• In today's video, Peker claimed that Interior Minister Soylu tipped off a businessperson about an investigation against him, allowing him to leave the country.
• Peker also said the pro-government Demirören Holding has not paid the 750 million dollars of loan it received from a public bank to buy the largest media conglomerate of the country in 2018.
• Peker admitted that he had been giving financial suport to an AKP deputy and pro-AKP groups in Germany.
• He said Twitter, Youtube and Instagram refused to block access to his posts despite court orders in Turkey.
Organized crime leader Sedat Peker released the recording of a video call on Saturday (June 4) and his ninth video on mafia-state relations one day later.
The recorded call was between him and Serdar Ekşioğlu, a businessperson with family ties to President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In the call, Ekşioğlu confirms when Peker says, "We were sending four trucks and they were also sending four trucks. We were not selling, both you and I were there."
In his previous video on May 31, Peker explained an alleged weapon delivery scheme to Syria in which he and a private military company were involved.
In yesterday's video, Peker was again in a different place and implied that he was in a different country than the UAE, where he had been filming his videos.
Peker said he was surprised when videos of the resort he was staying at circulated on social media as he did not know the place could be spotted by reverse internet search.
"If CIA and Mossad were helping me, wouldn't have they told me this?" he said, referring to accusations that he turned into a spy.
A businessperson facing charges in Turkey and the US
Peker claimed that Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu tipped off businessperson Sezgin Baran Korkmaz about an investigation against him so that he was able to leave the country before being arrested.
He claimed that Korkmaz visited Soylu on December 4, 2020, and left the country one day later.
Korkmaz is facing fraud charges in the US and money laundering charges in Turkey.
Peker previously claimed that Soylu had also tipped him off that he had been investigated, allowing him to avoid an arrest. The minister had also promised him that he would return to the country in April, Peker has claimed.
While Soylu denies any acquaintance with Peker, the mob boss describes him as "a man I've invested in for 20 years," and has revealed evidence about his ties to the minister.
Özgür Özel, the parliamentary group chair of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said that the parliament should establish a committee to investigate Soylu.
Peker said he had financially backed some of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) politicians and pro-AKP groups in Germany.
Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, one of the main targets of Peker in his videos previously claimed that Peker was sending 10,000 US dollars to an MP every month. After he did not disclose the name of the politician, rumors spread that it was AKP deputy Metin Külünk.
While denying that he was regularly sending money to Külünk, he had given "much more money than that" to him, especially during election campaigns, said Peker.
Also in cooperation with Metin Külünk, he was clandestinely sending money to pro-AKP groups in Germany, Peker added, without disclosing the name of any group.
In 2018, Germany banned the Osmanen Germania (Germany Ottomans) group for posing a threat to individuals and the public. It has also demanded, along with France and the Netherlands, the EU ban the activities of the Turkish nationalist Grey Wolves group.
Purchase of Doğan Media Group
Peker made new claims about the 2018 purchase of the Doğan Media Group, Turkey's largest media conglomerate at the time, by the Demirören Holding, which has close ties to the government.
According to Peker, Demirören took a loan of 750 million dollars from the state-run Ziraat Bank to purchase the group and has not paid that loan yet.
Peker previously confessed that he had organized a 2015 raid on the group's largest newspaper Hürriyet, which he said paved the way for the media' group's sale.
"He hasn't even paid the interest, let alone the principal. With interest, the debt has exceeded one billion dollars," said Peker.
Formerly a pro-government figure, Peker had to leave the country in 2019 to avoid arrest. He began his revelations on YouTube in early May, after, according to him, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu failed to keep his promise that he would be able to return to the country in April.
Peker has targeted several former and current government officials in his videos, making several accusations against them, including international drug smuggling, politicial assassinations, corruption, sexual assault and murder.
Along with Soylu, former Minister of Interior Mehmet Ağar, his son and AKP deputy Tolga Ağar, and former PM Binali Yıldırım's son Erkam Yıldırım, and former intelligence and military officer Korkut Eken are among Pekr's high-profile targets.
Peker's videos have had over 100 million views on YouTube. The government and relevant people have dismissed some of his claims while remaining silent about some others.
This AI-generated version of the "Turkish Pikachu" went viral on social media.
Pikachu has been deported, or is under house arrest. Since video images are not shown on mainstream media, we are left in limbo. It is hoped other cartoon or Marvel characters will come to the rescue. Most wishing for Spiderman, Ironman or Superman; someone who could be quite useful for the demonstrators at the moment.
At present it would appear that the government have only Daffy Duck or Mister Magoo leading their charge, it would be no match.
Whilst the images have caused much humour in the west, here there is more to it than that. You couldn’t think of a more likable Pokémon than Pikachu, loved by all children.
This coupled with kindergarten games of jumping together at demos now, with thousands doing this saying if you don’t you are then a name they disapprove of, phone lights in the air with beaming smiles of unity, are just the equivalent of name calling at school.
It is the lighter side to free expression away from the dogma they perceive in the country. Other incidents are a demonstrator as a whirling dervish in front of the police, water cannoned, or someone doing a Christiano Ronaldo celebration or groups doing press-ups. All this points to different more light headed fun-loving and different Turkey to the one they experience day to day. They (peaceful demonstrators) are of course demonised by certain sections as, in not so many words, unturkish.
And yet these are the very same people who would:
Help your elderly relative to cross the road.
Stand next to you singing their heart to the national anthem at a football ground.
Some will pray in the mosque, celebrate Ramadan and bayram with all their family like you.
Whether you believe it or not, because they are you, they are a part of what makes Turkey great. They may be the other side of the fence, but not the other end of the world.
To end on a lighter note, alleged images of Pikachu drinking in ExpressoLab, is an attempt to undermine the moral of students. To me he is now old hat, I would much rather see people dressed as Bambi. I mean who would ever dream of water cannoning Bambi, or would they?
Disclaimer: Pikachu, Bambi, Ironman Superman, Mr Magoo or Daffy Duck have not, or ever been a part of any political party.
David R. Mellor is from Liverpool, England. He spent his late teens homeless on Merseyside. He is currently writing and performing in Turkey. His work...
David R. Mellor is from Liverpool, England. He spent his late teens homeless on Merseyside. He is currently writing and performing in Turkey. His work has been featured by the BBC and the Tate, and his published collections of poetry are What a Catch (2013), Some Body (2013), Express Nothing (2019) and So This Is It (2020). His collection of stories An Englishman in Turkey – Türkiye’de Bir İngiliz is recently published in Turkish.
Seven people, including a journalist, were detained yesterday during a protest in Ayvalık, a district in the northwestern province of Balıkesir.
Those detained were accused of violating the Law on Meetings and Demonstrations and of “insulting the president.” The political magazine 1+1 Express confirmed that one of its team members, journalist and translator Çiğdem Öztürk, was among those taken into custody.
Despite the prosecutor’s request for their arrest, all seven individuals were released under judicial supervision the today.
The magazine issued a statement calling for the release of everyone who has been detained during the protests: “Freedom for all those who have been detained or arrested since Mar 19 for exercising their constitutional and democratic rights."
The protests
Protests have spread across Turkey since the Mar 19 detention of İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a prominent opposition figure from the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Demonstrations have been particularly active in İstanbul, where the CHP held nightly rallies in front of the municipal building for seven consecutive days. Student-led protests have also taken place in cities across the country.
According to the Interior Ministry, more than 1,800 people were detained nationwide between Mar 19 and Mar 27 in connection with the demonstrations, with 260 formally arrested.
At least 14 journalists have been among those detained.
Dozens of individuals have also been taken into custody over their social media posts related to the protests. In addition, court rulings have blocked access to numerous X (formerly Twitter) accounts.
İmamoğlu was formally arrested on Mar 23 on corruption-related charges and suspended from his duties as mayor. On the same day, the CHP held a previously scheduled primary in which İmamoğlu was declared the party’s presidential candidate for the 2028 presidential election. Following his suspension, the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council, where the CHP holds a majority, appointed a CHP member as acting mayor. (VK)
