Sedat Peker claims Erdoğan aides organize illicit oil trade, arms delivery to 'terror' groups in Syria
In his new YouTube video on mafia-state relations, the crime boss implicated the SADAT military firm and a senior official at the Presidency. He also said he would talk about President Erdoğan in his next video.
In the eighth episode of his online confessions, mafia boss Sedat Peker talked about alleged arms deliveries to an al-Qaeda branch in Syria and illicit trade in the country.
He pointed out two of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's aides, who he said were responsible for organizing such activities.
One of them is retired Brigadier General Adnan Tanrıverdi, the founder and the head of SADAT private military company.
Peker accused SADAT of sending weapons and equipment that he had paid for to the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, in 2018. Tanrıverdi was a senior advisor to the president at the time. He resigned in January 2020.
The Nusra Front rebranded itself as the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in 2016 and merged with other groups in 2017 to form the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which currently controls most of Syria's Idlib province, where Turkey also has a military presence.
In early 2018, Peker had shared photos of equipment he had sent to the Free Syrian Army on social media. Dozens of pickups, hundreds of body armors and other equipment were shown in the photos.
"Dozens of 4x4 off-road vehicles from Sedat Peker to the Free Syrian Army" read the cards on the cars in the photo posted on Instagram by Peker in March 2018.
It was a project that he discussed with an MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the time, he said in today's (May 30) video.
"He conveyed this idea to the necessary places. And then they said, 'We can give you additional trucks and they can go together with your trucks.' Our trucks were going as 'the Sedat Peker aid convoy'," said Peker.
"We were giving pictures to the press. We were sending all the equipment. But other vehicles were also going [to Syria] under my name. We thought that these were going to Turkmens in other places.
"We didn't know what was inside them. I mean, there were weapons, I'm not a naive child ... And this was normal, something that should happen.
"But this was not organized by the MİT [National Intelligence Agency] or the military. This was organized by SADAT, by a team inside the SADAT.
"I bought everything with my own money, except for those. But they were sent to Syria under my name. There were no procedures, no registries. They would directly cross [into Syria]."
He was later informed by his "Turkmen friends" that some of the pickups he sent to Syria had been delivered to the Nusra Front members, said Peker.
SADAT immediately denied Peker's claims, saying on Twitter that what he did was confessing that he had been smuggling weapons to Syria under the name of humanitarian aid.
"We call on the slanderers to prove their slanders and deliver the documents they have to the prosecutor's office," it said. "In his video, Peker confesses that he sold weapons to terrorist groups. But our company has no relation whatsoever with the weapons that were sold to terrorist groups."
"Let's open Pandora's box"
About the alleged illicit trade in Syria, Peker pointed out Methin Kıratlı, the head of the Presidency Administrative Affairs.
"Let's open Pandora's box. Do you know what you should do to trade in Syria? There is Mr. Metin Kıratlı, the chair of the Presidency Administrative Affairs, in the Presidential Complex. You go to him," he said.
"I'm not talking about the dealings of one or two trucks. Illegal crude oil, tea, sugar, aluminum, copper, second-hand cars... Billions of dollars, big money.
"... When you get the approval from [Metin Kıratlı], they send you to the MT Group. Murat Sancak [MT Grup Board Chair], Ramazan Öztürk, all [members] of the hierarchy are there.
"After their approval, you go to the al-Nusra officer responsible for economics: Abu Abdurrahman, he also uses the Abu Shayma alias.
"This is how trade is done as well. You can't do big business there outside of what I've explained."
The next video will be about Erdoğan
After staying silent for weeks, President Erdoğan talked about Peker's videos on Wednesday, claiming that they were a part of a plot targeting Turkey.
"I wish big brother Tayyip would intervene in the affairs and resolve them. As there is a lot of data, documents and words. But, I don't know why he chose to believe them, not me" said Peker, adding that he would talk about the president in his next video.
"Mr. President, big brother Tayyip, said, without mentioning my name, that this is an international conspiracy and I'm at the center of it. 'You'll see, we'll find and bring him here,' he said.
"No problem, the state can find and take me. But will finding and taking me change the truths, big brother Tayyip?
"If I'm a spy who is involved in an international conspiracy, I'll sit down and talk in front of you as a brother in the next video, big brother Tayyip."
Peker also said he stood with Erdoğan when he had no power. After his video, "big brother Tayyip" [#TayyipAbi] became a trending topic on Twitter in Turkey.
The mafia boss says he has personally known Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, whom he describes as "a man I had invested in for years," and Erdoğan for over 20 years.
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 Soylu failed to keep his promise that he would return to the country in April.
Peker has targeted several former and current government officials in his videos, accusing them of international drug trafficking, politicial assassinations, sexual assault and murder. Minister Soylu, former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar, his son and AKP deputy Tolga Ağar, and former PM Binali Yıldırım's son Erkam Yıldırım are among his high-profile targets.
Peker's videos have received over 70 million views since early May. The government has 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)
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