Turkey seeks arrest of mafia boss Sedat Peker
Turkey has issued a new arrest warrant for a convicted crime boss who fled prosecution abroad and then began publishing videos that allege grave crimes committed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s allies.
The chief public prosecutor’s office in Ankara issued the
arrest warrant for Sedat Peker on Wednesday as he prepared to release the
eighth in a series of YouTube videos that have each received millions of views.
Anadolu, the state news agency, said Peker was now also
suspected of involvement in a terror group led by a US-based Muslim preacher
whom Turkey blames for a failed coup against Erdoğan in 2016.
The accusations Peker has levelled at Erdoğan’s allies,
including a former prime minister, top officials and their relatives, range
from corruption and drug trafficking to rape and assassinations.
The videos have focused heavily on the interior minister,
Süleyman Soylu, whom Peker alleges had offered him protection and then tipped
him off about impending charges, allowing him to flee abroad.
Peker, 49, began recording his videos after police raided
his home in Turkey in April and allegedly mistreated his family.
He says he now lives in the United Arab Emirates.
None of the allegations have been proven and those involved
have said they are innocent.
But the political scandal sparked by the videos comes at an
inopportune time for Erdoğan, who is losing ground in opinion polls because of
a depreciating currency and runaway inflation.
Addressing the allegations directly for the first time on
Wednesday, Erdoğan vowed to stand “side by side” with Soylu, a nationalist who
is seen as one of Turkey’s most popular and powerful officials.
“We have crushed criminal organisations one by one for 19
years,” said Erdoğan.
“We follow criminal gang members wherever they may flee to
in the world.”
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