Erdogan: From fruit selling to limitless wealth

Mahmud al-Batakoshi

Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his family and his party are coming at the center of corruption accusations in Turkey. This is especially true in the light of the absolute powers he obtained after changing the political system in his country from a parliamentarian to a presidential one.

Erdogan was keen on implicating his party members in corruption cases to undermine them and prevent them from challenging him in the future.

Turkey has occupied position no. 91 in the Corruption Perceptions Index for the year 2019. In one year, Turkey dropped 13 positions in the index. Between 2013 and 2019, Turkey dropped 38 positions.

When he became the mayor of Istanbul, Erdogan submitted a financial statement, in which he said his wealth amounted to 5,110 Turkish liras. Now, however, the wealth of the Turkish president is in the billions of dollars.

$300 billion

Erdogan belongs to a poor family. He started his professional life by selling bread and watermelons to earn enough money to pay his school fees. He now has a total wealth of $300 billion in eight countries, according to Turkish academic, Ali Aghacolo.

The wealth of the Turkish president keeps growing, while his people grows poorer.

Nobody knows exactly how this wealth has swelled, but the sure thing is that it swelled in an illegal manner, Aghacolo said.

Erdogan was shocked by a threat by the U.S. to investigate the sources of his wealth.

On October 30, 2019, the U.S. Congress approved a law that would impose sanctions on Turkish officials. Days before the approval of the law, Erdogan hurried to Washington.

The Turkish president is coming at the center of corruption charges. He was referred to court more than one time in the past. He, however, evaded trial by hook and by crook.