Erdogan’s comrades expose his cover-up of AKP corruption

Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has tried to paint a positive picture of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan both domestically and globally as a fighter of corruption, but his former comrades have exposed this false image of the man who dreams of restoring the Ottoman caliphate.

Davutoglu reveals the truth

Former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who left the AKP and now heads the Future Party, revealed that Erdogan has covered up his ministers’ corruption for a long time.

Davutoglu, who was previously the architect of the AKP’s foreign relations, said in press statements that the Turkish president has worked on solidifying power during his reign and refusing to listen to any advice, either domestically or globally.

The former prime minister explained that during his time in office he had worked to advise Erdogan to adjust his policies. He rejected the criticism leveled against him of remaining silent when he became foreign minister and later prime minister.

Regarding the Interior Ministry’s violent expulsion in June 2013 of the Gezi Park protesters who rejected the projects to develop the region, Davutoglu said that he had tried to change the course of what happened and had succeeded in reducing the severity. He conceded, however, that Erdogan wanted to forcefully intervene and expel the demonstrators, which created a state of anger in the street, followed by calls to demonstrate across the country.

Covering up corruption

Davutoglu also addressed the corruption scandal that struck the country on December 17, 2013, in which 52 people close to the Erdogan regime were accused, including Halkbank CEO Süleyman Aslan, Iranian-born businessman Reza Zarrab, and prominent Fatih municipality business tycoon Ali Agaoglu, as well as children of the ministers of interior, economy, environment and urban planning.

The former prime minister pointed out that he wanted to present the accused to the court for the case to be decided, objecting to the way Erdogan dealt with the issue, where a committee was formed in the parliament with nine AKP members and a decision was issued to acquit the accused.

Davutoglu added that he had examined the documents alongside the head of the committee and two members of parliament, and the conclusion had been that all the officials were guilty. It had been agreed that they would go to the court voluntarily, which was announced at a press conference by the former prime minister, but Erdogan then interfered and changed the plan so that all of them were released as innocent.

Freedom of expression

The head of the Future Party continued his attack on Erdogan, especially with regard to the issue of freedoms and human rights, pointing out that he was opposed to any of the accusations against the 1,128 academics who signed the “Academics for Peace” petition demanding an end to the curfew imposed in towns in southeast Turkey and the start of dialogue with the Kurds.

Davutoglu said that he criticized the arrest of the academics, who were sentenced to prison. As a result, Erdogan summoned him and told him, “Why don’t you have a sharp stance to counter the statement? It seems that you are defending the terrorists.” According to the former prime minister, he had protested to Erdogan that that this was an attack on freedom of expression and that these academics could not be described as terrorists.

Similar statements

The statements of former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are similar to previous statements made by former Education Minister Omer Dinçer, who noted that he resigned from the AKP following the corruption and bribery incident in 2013.

In an interview with the Turkish news website T24 in December 2019, Dinçer confirmed that he did not believe what had happened, because these officials had already been convicted, but the parliament refused to send them to trial on the orders of Erdogan.