ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said a series of severe allegations made against members of his entourage by a fugitive mafia boss were a plot against Turkey.
He vowed to fight criminal gangs.
In a stream of videos posted on social media in recent weeks, convicted mob leader Sedat Peker has made stunning claims against ruling party figures that include alleged corruption, drug trafficking and a murder cover-up — maintaining there were close ties between senior officials and the underworld.
Peker, who is believed to be currently residing in Dubai, has not so far produced documentary evidence to back up his allegations.
His accusations have targeted Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, the son of former prime minister Binali Yildirim, and a convicted former interior minister as well as his son, who is a legislator from Erdogan’s ruling party.
The YouTube videos, which have hit millions of views, have led to opposition calls for Soylu’s resignation and for prosecutors to investigate Peker’s claims.
Breaking his weeks-long silence over the allegations, Erdogan described them as a “devious operation” targeting the country and his rule.
“We will spoil these games, these plots. No one should doubt that we will disrupt this devious operation,” Erdogan said, in an address to members of his ruling party.
“We pursue members of criminal gangs wherever in the world they flee to. We will not leave these criminals alone until we bring them back to our country and hand them over to the judiciary,” he said.
In his latest video released on Sunday, the 49-year-old crime boss who has been in and out of prison in Turkey, claimed that Yildirim’s son, Erkam Yildirim, had traveled to Venezuela to stake out possible narcotics smuggling routes. Binali Yildirim firmly denied the allegation, insisting that his son, who owns a shipping company, had traveled to Caracas on a humanitarian mission to hand out COVID-19 testing kits and masks.
In the video, the crime boss also claimed to have had a close relationship with Interior Minister Soylu, who allegedly provided him with a security detail and warned him about an investigation into his group. Peker also claimed that Soylu had sought his help in a bid to defeat a rival group within the ruling party, which is led by Erdogan’s son-in-law. Soylu has denied the claims in television interviews and has filed a criminal complaint against Peker.
Erdogan said Wednesday he firmly stands by Soylu and Yildirim.
Ahmet Davutoglu, an opposition party leader and former Erdogan ally who had served under him as prime minister from 2014 to 2016, called for a parliamentary investigation into the allegations and questioned the president’s support for Soylu.
“If President Tayyip Erdogan believes in Soylu’s innocence, he should have said this on the first day. Not after 25 days,” Davutoglu said.
Other allegations by Peker have targeted former interior minister Mehmet Agar, and his son Tolga Agar, a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party. Peker claimed Tolga Agar was involved in the suspicious death of a Kazakh journalism student, Yeldana Kaharman, who had interviewed him and that her death was covered up as suicide following an alleged rape. The legislator rejects the accusation.
In continued allegations against the Agar family, the mob leader said Mehmet Agar was behind a series of political killings in the 1990s. Mehmet Agar had also, Peker claimed, illegally appropriated the marina in the upscale Aegean resort of Yalikavak from an Azerbaijani-Turkish businessman. Agar claimed that he had saved the marina from falling into the hands of crime gangs.
Peker’s revelations have raised concerns over possible continued ties between state officials and illegal gangs. To many, they come has a grim reminder of the 1990s when Turkey was rocked by a scandal that was triggered by a car crash. The road accident in western Turkey killed a police chief and a wanted mafia hitman, and injured a member of Turkey’s parliament — all riding in the same car — and revealed shady links between state actors and the underworld.
Peker is believed to have fled Turkey last year after getting wind of an operation against his group.
It is unclear why the mafia boss — who has supported Erdogan by organizing political rallies in his favor and by making threats against his opponents — has turned against the government.
Peker maintains that he was forced to speak out after his wife and two daughters were allegedly mistreated during a police raid on their home.
Erdogan dismisses mob head’s claims as ‘plot’ against Turkey
https://arab.news/nq6zy
Erdogan dismisses mob head’s claims as ‘plot’ against Turkey
- Convicted mob leader Sedat Peker made stunning claims against ruling party figures that include alleged corruption, drug trafficking and murder cover-up
- YouTube videos, which have hit millions of views, have led to opposition calls for Interior Minister’s resignation and prosecutors to investigate claims
Lebanese Christian leader says Hezbollah’s fighting with Israel has harmed Lebanon
- Samir Geagea of the Lebanese Forces Party said Hezbollah should withdraw from areas along the border with Israel
- The Lebanese army should deploy in all points where militants of the Iran-backed group have taken positions
`MAARAB, Lebanon: The leader of a main Christian political party in Lebanon blasted the Shiite militant group Hezbollah for opening a front with Israel to back up its ally Hamas, saying it has harmed Lebanon without making a dent in Israel’s crushing offensive in the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with AP on Tuesday night, Samir Geagea of the Lebanese Forces Party said Hezbollah should withdraw from areas along the border with Israel and the Lebanese army should deploy in all points where militants of the Iran-backed group have taken positions.
His comments came as Western diplomats try to broker a de-escalation in the border conflict amid fears of a wider war.
Hezbollah began launching rockets toward Israeli military posts on Oct. 8, the day after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack that sparked the crushing war in Gaza.
The near-daily violence has mostly been confined to the area along the border, and international mediators have been scrambling to prevent an all-out war. The fighting has killed 12 soldiers and 10 civilians in Israel. More than 350 people have been killed in Lebanon including 273 Hezbollah fighters and more than 50 civilians.
“No one has the right to control the fate of a country and people on its own,” Geagea said in his heavily guarded headquarters in the mountain village of Maarab. “Hezbollah is not the government in Lebanon. There is a government in Lebanon in which Hezbollah is represented.” In addition to its military arm, Hezbollah is a political party.
Geagea, whose party has the largest bloc in Lebanon’s 128-member parliament, has angled to position himself as the leader of the opposition against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah officials have said that by opening the front along Israel’s northern border, the militant group has reduced the pressure on Gaza by keeping several Israeli army divisions on alert in the north rather than taking part in the monthslong offensive in the enclave.
“All the damage that could have happened in Gaza ... happened. What was the benefit of military operations that were launched from south Lebanon? Nothing,” Geagea said, pointing the death toll and massive destruction in Lebanon’s border villages.
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, caused wide destruction and displaced hundreds of thousands to the city of Rafah along Egypt’s border. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to launch an offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah despite international calls for restraint.
Geagea said Hezbollah aims through the ongoing fighting to benefit its main backer, Iran, by giving it a presence along Israel’s border and called for the group to withdraw from border areas and Lebanese army deploy in accordance with a UN Security Council resolution that ended the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.
Geagea also discussed the campaign by his party to repatriate Syrian refugees who fled war into Lebanon.
Those calls intensified after a Syrian gang was blamed for last month’s killing of Lebanese Forces official Pascal Suleiman, allegedly in a carjacking gone wrong, although many initially suspected political motives.
Lebanon, with a total population of around 6 million, hosts what the UN refugee agency says are nearly 785,000 UN-registered Syrian refugees, of which 90 percent rely on aid to survive. Lebanese officials estimate there may be 1.5 million or 2 million, of whom only around 300,000 have legal residency.
Human rights groups say that Syria is not safe for mass returns and that many Syrians who have gone back — voluntarily or not — have been detained and tortured.
Geagea, whose party is adamantly opposed to the government of President Bashar Assad in Syria, insisted that only a small percentage of Syrians in Lebanon are true political refugees and that those who are could go to opposition-controlled areas of Syria.
The Lebanese politician suggested his country should follow in the steps of Western countries like Britain, which passed controversial legislation last week to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
“In Lebanon we should tell them, guys, go back to your country. Syria exists,” said Geagea, who headed the largest Christian militia during Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
Turkiye to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at World Court, minister says
- “Turkiye will continue to support the Palestinian people in all circumstances,” Fidan said
- In January, President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkiye was providing documents for the case at the ICJ
ISTANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that Turkiye would join in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“Upon completion of the legal text of our work, we will submit the declaration of official intervention before the ICJ with the objective of implementing this political decision,” Fidan said in a joint press conference with Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Ankara.
“Turkiye will continue to support the Palestinian people in all circumstances,” he said.
The ICJ ordered Israel in January to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians, after South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.
In January, President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkiye was providing documents for the case at the ICJ, also known as the World Court.
Israel and its Western allies described the allegation as baseless. A final ruling in South Africa’s ICJ case in The Hague could take years.
Iran files charges over BBC report on teen girl allegedly killed by security forces in 2022 protests
Iran files charges over BBC report on teen girl allegedly killed by security forces in 2022 protests
- Nika Shakarami’s death also sparked widespread outrage at the time
- Amini died after being detained by police over allegedly not wearing her mandatory hijab, or headscarf, to their liking
JERUSALEM: Iranian prosecutors filed criminal charges on Wednesday targeting activists and journalists following a BBC report that alleged security forces had “sexually assaulted and killed” a 16-year-old girl during protests over the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.
Nika Shakarami’s death also sparked widespread outrage at the time.
Amini died after being detained by police over allegedly not wearing her mandatory hijab, or headscarf, to their liking. UN investigators have said Iran is responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death.
In Shakarami’s case, authorities said she died after falling from a tall building, something immediately disputed by her mother, who said her daughter had been beaten.
The BBC report published on Monday — relying on what it described as a report written for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard — said Shakarami was detained by undercover security forces who molested her, then killed her with batons and electronic stun guns after she struggled against the assault.
Iran’s Mizan news agency, run by the country’s judiciary, said on Wednesday that the BBC story was “a fake, incorrect and full-of-mistakes report,” without addressing any of the alleged errors it contained.
It was the government’s first acknowledgment of the BBC report and it said “journalists and activists” have been summoned over the issue.
“The Tehran Prosecutor’s Office filed a criminal case against these people,” Mizan said, with charges including “spreading lies” and “propaganda against the system.” The first charge can carry up at a year and a half in prison and dozens of lashes, while the second can involve up to a year’s imprisonment.
Mizan did not identify those charges and it was unclear whether prosecutors had charged three BBC journalists who bylined the report. Those associated with the BBC’s Persian service have been targeted for years by Tehran and barred from working in the country since its disputed 2009 presidential election and Green Movement protests.
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The broadcaster noted that in recent years, there have been faked documents floating around during widespread protests, purporting to be from the Iranian government.
However, it said it had “confidence that it is genuine,” despite an inconsistency in the report using an old acronym for the police.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Wednesday tried to dismiss the BBC report as an effort to “divert attention” from ongoing protests at American universities over the Israel-Hamas war — despite the events dominating US television networks.
“The enemy and their media have resorted to false and far-fetched reports to conduct psychological operations,” Vahidi said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
UAE braced for severe weather, task force on high alert
- UAE’s disaster management authority warns residents to expect rain, storms over next two days
- All private schools in UAE to switch to remote learning as precaution on Thursday and Friday
DUBAI: Challenging weather is again expected in the UAE, with parts of the country’s east coast set to experience strong winds.
The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority said gusts of up to 40 kph were likely to impact the area on Thursday.
While the NCM forecasts less severe conditions than those in April, it has warned residents to expect rain and storms over the next two days. There is a possibility of hail in the eastern regions, possibly extending to some internal and western areas.
Clouds are expected to decrease on Friday and Saturday, with possible light to medium rain which may be heavier in some southern and eastern regions.
Government agencies are coordinating with the Joint Weather and Tropical Assessment Team to monitor developments, said a statement from the NCM.
The teams will assess the potential impact of weather conditions and implement proactive measures where necessary.
Dubai’s government announced all private schools in the UAE would switch to remote learning on Thursday and Friday as a precaution.
Authorities have urged the public to exercise caution, adhere to safety standards and guidelines, refrain from circulating rumors, and rely on official sources for information.
The UAE is still recovering from last month’s storms which caused widespread flooding, submerging streets and disrupting flights at Dubai International Airport.
Hamas official insists Gaza ceasefire must be permanent
- Suhail Al-Hindi, a senior Hamas official said the group would “deliver its response clearly within a very short period“
- He stressed the aim was “to reach an end to this war“
GAZA, Palestinian Territories: Hamas will respond to an Israeli truce proposal for Gaza “within a very short period,” an official with the Palestinian militant group said Wednesday, stressing though that any ceasefire needs to be permanent.
Hamas is considering a plan for a 40-day ceasefire and the exchange of scores of hostages for larger numbers of Palestinian prisoners.
Suhail Al-Hindi, a senior Hamas official, told AFP the group would “deliver its response clearly within a very short period,” although he would not say precisely when that was expected to happen.
Speaking to AFP by phone from an undisclosed location, he said it was premature to say whether the Hamas envoys, who have returned from talks in Cairo to their base in Qatar, felt any progress was made.
He stressed the aim was “to reach an end to this war.”
But that would seem to be at odds with Israel’s determination to push ahead with its vast ground offensive in southern Gaza.
A source with knowledge of the negotiations said Qatari mediators expected a response from Hamas in one or two days.
The source said Israel’s proposal contained “real concessions” including a period of “sustainable calm” following an initial pause in fighting and the exchange of hostages of and prisoners.
The source said Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip remained a likely point of contention.
An Israeli official told AFP the government “will wait for answers until Wednesday night,” and then “make a decision” whether to send envoys to Cairo to nail down a deal.
