Erdoğan's Evil Government, A Mobster, And Turkey's Arms Shipments To Jihadis In Syria

 

A Mobster and Turkey's Arms Shipments to Jihadis by Burak Bekdil  •  July 3, 2021 at 5:00 am       Erdoğan's government claimed the cargo was humanitarian aid to Turkoman locals in Syria but then filed criminal charges against the editors Cumhuriyet, for being members of a "terrorist organization," espionage and revealing state secrets.... The prosecution asked for life sentences for two Cumhuriyet editors. Since then, Can Dündar, then-editor-in-chief, has been living in Germany in exile. At the beginning of May, Sedat Peker, a convicted Turkish mob boss and a fierce supporter of Erdoğan -- until now -- began posting videos on social media in which he made uncorroborated accusations of corruption, murder and drug-running against top politicians. After weeks of silence, Erdoğan... ordered prosecutors and judges to investigate and establish that all of Peker's claims were lies and a smear campaign against his government. Who will trust the independence of a legal probe when the president has already ordered its verdict? A notorious mob boss has just added to the nightmares of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Sedat Peker, a convicted criminal who was a fierce supporter of Erdoğan -- until now -- recently began posting a series of videos on social media in which he made uncorroborated accusations of corruption, murder and drug-running against top politicians. Millions of Turks have tuned in to watch. Pictured: A photograph, taken on May 26, 2021 on a mobile phone, shows Peker speaking on his YouTube channel. (Photo by Ozan Kose/AFP via Getty Images) On January 19, 2014, the Turkish Gendarmerie command in southern Turkey searched three trucks heading for Syria. Accompanying the trucks were Turkish intelligence officers; the trucks had a bizarre cargo: In the first container, were 25-30 missiles or rockets and 10-15 crates loaded with ammunition; and in the second, 20-25 missiles or rockets, 20-25 crates of mortar rounds and anti-aircraft ammunition in five or six sacks. The crates had markings in the Cyrillic alphabet. One of the drivers testified that the cargo had been loaded onto the trucks from a foreign airplane at Ankara's Esenboğa Airport and that, "We carried similar loads several times before." Continue Reading Article