Turkish Opposition Demands Action Over ‘Mafia Boss’s’ Corruption Claims

Sedat Peker. Photo: Sedat Peker's Facebook page.

"If the judiciary cannot fight against crime, corruption and bribery everything will be finished. We are now waiting for an effective and comprehensive investigation [into Peker's claims]," Muharrem Erkek, the vice chair of the Republican People's Party, CHP, said on Monday after his party filed a criminal complaint.

In addition to the main opposition CHP, several other parties, including the junior opposition the Good Party and right-wing Victory Party, also filed criminal complaints on Monday.

Peker, who fled from Turkey in 2020 and now lives in the United Arab Emirates, has made a new series of corruption allegations against senior members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, senior bureaucrats, businesspeople and journalists.

In 50 tweets over the weekend he said that Capital Markets Board SPK head Ali Fuat Taskesenlioglu, AKP lawmaker Zehra Taskesenlioglu, Erdogan's advisor, Serkan Taranoglu, the Union of Chambers, Commodity Exchanges of Turkey member Salih Orakcı, and columnist Burak Tasci, all took bribes as part of an organized network.

Some of the mentioned individuals already rebuffed the claims against them and said that they will file criminal complaints against Peker.

The names that Peker revealed allegedly demanded bribes from Mine Tozlu Sineren, a businessperson; Peker supported his claims with screenshots of alleged correspondence between them.

"I reported this to state institutions … but have not received a response," Sineren said in a TV interview on Saturday, confirming the bribery allegations.

The Prosecutor's office and the government have not made any official statements about the corruption claims.

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