{"id":106520,"date":"2014-01-18T19:07:37","date_gmt":"2014-01-18T17:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=106520"},"modified":"2023-04-02T16:12:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-02T13:12:26","slug":"loose-lips-threaten-turkeys-powerful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2014\/01\/18\/loose-lips-threaten-turkeys-powerful\/","title":{"rendered":"Loose Lips Threaten Turkey\u2019s Powerful"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the corruption scandal rages, eye-opening wiretapped conversations of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main rival, Fethullah G\u00fclen, have been leaked to the public<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
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\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The corruption scandal that continues to rock Turkey reached a new high this week when taped conversations of the country\u2019s two biggest power brokers were leaked online. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was wiretapped, police reports show, and so was his chief rival, Fethullah G\u00fclen, an Islamic cleric the Turkish government accuses of being behind the corruption investigation.<\/p>\n

The wiretaps reveal previously unknown information about both men. It appears that G\u00fclen had direct ties with Turkey\u2019s business elite, and a police investigation is trying to tie Erdo\u011fan to figures affiliated with Al Qaeda.<\/p>\n

The tape wars started Monday when a Twitter user began spreading<\/span>Soundcloud links<\/span>\u00a0containing of the four leaked recordings of G\u00fclen\u2019s conversations (one of the recordings mysteriously vanished later). The account was suspended in a heartbeat, but the links had already made it to the media. The phone conversations were between G\u00fclen and \u201csome executives from institutions established and run by the people who are inspired by [his] movement,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>according to B\u00fclent Kene\u015f<\/span>, the editor of the daily Today\u2019s Zaman, a paper sympathetic to the G\u00fclenist cause.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Turkey'sTurkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s control of the country could be in jeopardy. (REUTERS)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Living in the Poconos in a self-imposed exile since the late \u201990s, G\u00fclen is the leader of a religious movement that spans the globe. The G\u00fclenist movement encompasses a wide network of businessmen and runs charter schools in 90 countries (including at least 120 in the U.S.), a media company in Turkey and a private Turkish bank that adheres to Islamic lending practices, Bank Asya. More importantly, the movement heavily influences Turkey\u2019s police and judiciary.<\/p>\n

RELATED: MEET FETULLAH GULEN, THE BILLY GRAHAM OF TURKEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

The phone conversations reveal that G\u00fclen gets daily briefings about the country\u2019s political and economic matters. \u201c[The recordings] would come as a surprise to many who think of G\u00fclen only as a cleric, only praying and studying religion, but he\u2019s a figure with a huge influence all over the world,\u201d says Nazl\u0131 Il\u0131cak, a journalist who wrote a book on the G\u00fclenists in 2011, in a phone interview. \u201cTherefore it\u2019s normal for businessmen to regularly visit him, him being involved in business dealings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"FethullahFetullah G\u00fclen carries a heavy influence inside Turkey despite living in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

According to the recordings, G\u00fclen\u2019s aides deliver messages from many influential Turkish tycoons, including Mustafa Ko\u00e7, whose Ko\u00e7 Holding company generates annual sales equal to\u00a06 percent of Turkey\u2019s economy. The recording also features G\u00fclen and his aide discussing whether Ko\u00e7 would sponsor the Turkish Olympics, an annual event in which students from G\u00fclen\u2019s charter schools compete to see who can make the best speech in Turkish. Ko\u00e7 was, indeed, one of the four sponsors of the event, along with Bank Asya. A spokesperson for Ko\u00e7 Holding did not return calls or emails for comment.<\/p>\n

RELATED: CAN TURKEY BECOME THE KINGPIN OF ISLAMIC BANKING?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In one conversation, G\u00fclen\u2019s aide refers to Erdo\u011fan as an \u201cempty minister.\u201d Two of the recordings date back to October and November of 2013. The police launched the corruption investigation on Dec. 17. The other recordings are dated Dec. 21 and Dec. 25. These, according to Il\u0131cak, actually reveal fears of a conspiracy against G\u00fclen. \u201cIf rumors spread that Bank Asya is vulnerable,\u201d his aide tells G\u00fclen, \u201cit would be very bad for us. We need a deposit of approximately $300 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day after the G\u00fclen leaks, the Erdo\u011fan files surfaced. According to police reports obtained by the independent news site\u00a0T24.com.tr, Erdo\u011fan\u2019s son, Bilal, is closely linked with the Saudi Arabian tycoon Yasin al-Qadi\u2014a man the U.S. has designated as a \u201cspecially designated global terrorist.\u201d The police tapped the phone of Cengiz Akt\u00fcrk, a wealthy businessman and Erdo\u011fan ally, and concluded that Erdo\u011fan and al-Qadi were secret partners in Akt\u00fcrk\u2019s firm, Bosphorus 360. Akt\u00fcrk, speaking to H\u00fcrriyet, denied the claims but said he knows al-Qadi and \u201cwould like to help that brother to invest in Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Akt\u00fcrk also has investments in the cosmetics industry and has partnered with Usama Qutb, an Egyptian businessman. According to H\u00fcrriyet, Qutb is the nephew of Sayyid Qutb, whose writings are believed to have beenthe inspiration for Al Qaeda. Sayyid Qutb was executed in 1966 for his role in an assassination plot against then-Egyptian President Gamal Nasser.<\/p>\n

RELATED: TURKEY\u2019S VERY UNSEXY POLITICAL SEX TAPE SCANDAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

More wiretaps, disclosed by Turkey\u2019s Art\u0131 1 news network, reveal that Usama Qutb spoke to Erdo\u011fan\u2019s aide to arrange a private meeting with the prime minister. Another conversation between Qutb and Bilal Erdo\u011fan reveal the two planning a meeting. Erdo\u011fan refers to him with a Turkish honorarium loosely translated as \u201celder brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most surprising aspect of the police investigation revealed that even Prime Minister Erdo\u011fan\u2019s phone was tapped\u2014a conversation between Erdo\u011fan and his close friend Latif Topba\u015f, the 25th\u00a0wealthiest businessman in Forbes Turkey\u2019s list. Police reports show that the two men talked about construction permits in an area reserved for a forest. Topba\u015f is also accused of being a secret partner of Akt\u00fcrk, Qutb, and Bilal Erdo\u011fan. A spokesperson for Topba\u015f could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

According to Yavuz O\u011fhan, the news editor of Art\u0131 1 TV, Erdo\u011fan\u2019s wiretaps were held for a year before being leaked shortly after the G\u00fclen tapes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gulen\u2019s lawyer is preparing to file a criminal complaint against those responsible for wiretapping his phone. \u201cI think it\u2019s orchestrated by those who want to harm G\u00fclen,\u201d Il\u0131cak adds. But Kene\u015f is more explicit: He implies that the government is behind the leaks.<\/p>\n

Let the blame game begin.<\/p>\n

AUTHOR:Oray Egin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the corruption scandal rages, eye-opening wiretapped conversations of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his main rival, Fethullah G\u00fclen, have been leaked to the public The corruption scandal that continues to rock Turkey reached a new high this week when taped conversations of the country\u2019s two biggest power brokers were leaked online. Turkish Prime […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":106521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[1018],"class_list":["post-106520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}