'Sex tape' claims stir Turkish politics

With only three weeks left to crucial parliamentary elections, the flames of Turkish politics have been fanned once again by claims that a high-level female official of an opposition party was blackmailed with an inappropriate video recording.

Meral Ak?ener, a veteran politician from the ranks of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), is the victim of the claims made public on May 10 by Latif Erdo?an, a former sympathizer of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. 

A well-known and respected politician, 59-year-old Ak?ener served as the interior minister during the mid-1990s. 

Latif Erdo?an?s claim has been widely denounced by public opinion and politicians including President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his wife Emine Erdo?an, who phoned Ak?ener to express their solidarity, according to daily Hürriyet.  

Apart from the president and the first lady, Sare Davuto?lu, the wife of Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu, and Hayrünnisa Gül, the wife of former President Abdullah Gül, have also called Ak?ener to express their solidarity.  

Family and Social Policies Minister Ay?enur ?slam has also contacted the MHP deputy, and said such unethical moves should not have a place in politics. 

?I am standing with you as a woman politician,? she told Ak?ener.  

Ak?ener refuted claims that she had been blackmailed with any video, describing it as an ?ignominious aspersion.?

?The reason for this is the rise of the MHP and my criticism of the corruption revealed Dec. 17, [2013]. I am accused of being a member of the [Gülen] community, but I can only laugh,? she said. 

?I am 59 years old and I live with my mother-in-law. I am soon going to be a grandmother. My grandchildren will read about all of these things...