A corruption scandal has erupted in Turkey that extends to the highest echelons of politics and business. President Erdogan fired an adviser on Thursday evening in an attempt to distance himself from the spreading scandal. Earlier in the week, two other advisers to the president had already resigned, officially for health reasons, but many Turks find that hard to believe. The affair has already been compared to a major corruption scandal that erupted in 2013, when members of the Islamist cleric Fethullah Gülen’s movement posted wiretapped telephone conversations from Erdogan on the internet.
This time the allegations come from Sedat Peker, a well-known underworld figure who has close ties to entrepreneurs and politicians and who has been in pro-government circles in recent years. He fled Turkey in 2020 to avoid being arrested. After the police raided his home in Istanbul, Peker started hanging out the dirty laundry from the Emirates. First through lengthy YouTube videos recorded in his hotel room, which have been viewed millions of times. When the authorities in Dubai asked him to stop, he switched to his Twitter account.
Bribes
Peker posted a lengthy thread on Twitter a week and a half ago, in which he claimed that Ali Fuat Taskesenliogu, the former chairman of the capital market regulator, received bribes to approve the IPO and capital increase of companies. His sister Zehra Taskesenliogu, a parliamentarian of the ruling AKP, and some advisers to the president are also said to be involved in the bribery plot. According to Peker, it was coordinated by Serhat Albayrak, the director of the pro-government Turkuvaz Media group and the brother of Erdogan’s son-in-law.
Peker substantiated his allegations with company documents and screenshots of WhatsApp conversations between those involved. According to him, these were part of a plan to extort 12 million Turkish lira (660,000 euros) from Mine Tozlu Sineren, owner of Marka Investment Holding. Sineren has confirmed the story to the Turkish media. She told opposition channel HalkTV that she reported the bribery attempts “every time” to authorities, including the president’s communications center (Cimer), but nothing was done about it.
Leash of the palace
The lack of liability is a common thread in Peker’s allegations. While he has made one shocking claim after another about political figures in recent months, including charges of murder, rape and drug trafficking, criminal investigations have failed to materialize. According to the opposition, justice is on the leash of the palace. That trend started as a result of the 2013 corruption scandal, which led to a major purge of Gülenists within the police and judiciary, and has accelerated under the presidential system that followed the 2016 coup attempt.
Erdogan fired his adviser Serkan Taranoglu last week after the opposition CHP and IYI Party requested the prosecutor to investigate the charges against Taranoglu and Taskesenlioglu. CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said Peker’s status as a mobster with close ties to government circles gives his claims credibility. “All of Sedat Peker’s claims are true because he is one of the parties involved. He says: ‘We did it’,” said the opposition leader to Haberturk.
Political pressure became so great that Istanbul’s chief prosecutor opened an investigation into Sineren’s allegations last week. The scandal could put Erdogan in a difficult position ahead of next June’s elections. Because he is doing very badly in the polls. The 2013 corruption scandal actually increased sympathy for Erdogan, who was seen by many voters as the victim of the shadowy Gülen movement. But those were different times. Meanwhile, the Turks are weighed down by 100 percent inflation.
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