...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
's ruling AKP party are involved in serious crimes.
The clips, which have gone viral and are making headlines, claim leading politicians were involved in malfeasance, murders, rapes, drug trafficking and other illicit practices. Peker alleges the
The Mafioso claims
As the government has so far refused to investigate Peker's claims,
Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu is accused of helping a criminal escape prosecution
Peker, who fled abroad in January 2020, has been well-known in Turkey for years. Known as a leading figure in Turkey's criminal underworld, he has been tried several times — including on charges of murder and kidnapping — and was sentenced for "establishing a criminal organization."
WISHING THE AFFAIR AWAY?
Peker's videos have sparked a lively debate in Turkey. After weeks of ignoring the accusations, President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...was finally compelled to comment.
"It causes us great sorrow to see that some wretched and unworthy people in our country accept help from the mafia," Erdogan said this week during a Cabinet meeting. "Like terror organizations, criminal gangs are venomous snakes."
Ibrahim Uslu, a political scientist with the Ankara Social Research Center (ANAR), says Erdogan's statement came too late. "The ruling AKP party must instantly launch a parliamentary inquiry when a man who had fled the country makes slanderous and insulting statements against the government."
Uslu says the entire affair is a public relations fiasco for the government because public trust in the judiciary and state is already low. "The AKP should have made clear it is taking decisive action against criminal organizations."