Turkey arrests journalist over 'sleaze' charges against government
Serdar Akinan’s alleged crime was to share and comment on videos accusing numerous members of the ruling party and their business cronies of corruption and engaging in extramarital sex.
A veteran journalist in Turkey who shared incriminating allegations against the government was detained today in the Western province of Canakkale on charges of disseminating false information, his lawyer confirmed.
Serdar Akinan, 55, tweeted that he was under arrest as police hauled off from his home in a dawn raid in Ayvacik district and ferried to Istanbul, where he was due to appear in court after being interrogated by police.
Akinan’s alleged crime was to share and comment on videos posted by Muhammed Yakut, a Kurdish organized crime figure, in which he accused numerous members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and their business cronies of corruption and engaging in extramarital sex with women procured by a madam known as “Fatos” who also runs a dog shelter in Istanbul.
In a series of thickly Kurdish-accented monologues peppered with expletives broadcast on his YouTube channel, Yakut alleged that several cabinet ministers including Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu owned apartments worth more than $2 million in a modern complex called Camellia House in southwest London.
