Sex, Fraud and Videotape

By Ayla Albayrak and Joe Parkinson

Turkey’s general elections are usually volatile affairs, but with the governing AK Party streets ahead in opinion polls, this year’s contest is being labeled the most predictable for over a decade. But predictable doesn’t mean boring. Another staple of election season here is the emergence of scandalous revelations and accusations of foul play — and this time it’s no different.

Last week, the opposition Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, was shaken by the release of a video tape showing two party deputies apparently drunk and canoodling with two women. The tape’s footage showed one of the deputies, Recai Yildirim, bragging about his daily visits to brothels and informing a female companion that he would be “excited” to see her in a headscarf. The deputies resigned on Wednesday in a move analysts said could damage the party’s chances with conservative voters, boosting the governing AK Party.

Deniz Baykal, former leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, pointed the finger at the ruling party, saying the video tape was “a trap ahead of the elections.” Mr. Baykal himself was ousted from party leadership by a similar scandal last year after a videotape showing him getting dressed after allegedly having sex in a hotel room with his former aide.

The video scandal was followed this week by simultaneous police raids on two CHP party offices on allegations of corruption, according to state news Anadolu Agency. Thirty-four municipality workers were arrested in the offices, which were located in CHP strongholds in southwestern Turkey.

A pro-secular heartland, Turkey’s southwest is one of the country’s few regions where the Islamic-leaning AK Party has struggled to win popular support.

CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said the raids were politically motivated, questioning why corruption allegations were not investigated with similar vigor in the AK Party-led municipality of Kayseri in central Turkey.

In a sign of growing tension, Minister of Transportation Binali Yildirim, who runs as an AK Party candidate for Izmir in southwestern Turkey, expressed concern about how the tape scandal and the raid would affect his party’s image. The governing party has been faced mounting accusations that it is aggressively suppressing opponents in politics and the media.

“We have never undertaken illegitimate actions against our political rivals, and we never will,” said Mr. Yildirim.

Analysts said the emergence of scandals and parties trading barbs was “standard fare” during a Turkish election season, but stressed that a growing number of voters were questioning whether recent revelations appeared to exclusively benefit the government.

“There’s no direct evidence linking the AK Party hierarchy to the allegations against the opposition, but if you’re looking at who would benefit, there is a fairly causal link showing it serves AK Party interests. There is already an incredible amount of evidence disseminated by the opposition CHP about AK Party corruption in Kayseri, but it doesn’t receive the same attention,” said Atilla Yesilada, analyst at Global Source Partners, a research consultancy.

via Sex, Fraud and Videotape – Emerging Europe Real Time – WSJ.