Top Turkish minister fights corruption allegations from exiled mafia boss
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said he would not resign and defended his record against allegations by an exiled mafia boss whose wide-spanning YouTube confessions have gripped Turkish politics.
ISTANBUL — Top Turkish officials continue to grapple with a growing list of allegations made by an exiled mafia boss, whose ongoing series of YouTube revelations have rattled Turkish politics.
Since early May, Sedat Peker, a convicted organized crime leader believed to be in Dubai, has been posting hour-long videos implicating current and former high-level officials of crimes including drug trafficking, racketeering, rape and murder.
At the center of many accusations is Suleyman Soylu, Turkey’s interior minister since 2016. Faced with direct taunts from Peker, who claims to have long colluded with Soylu, the embattled minister appeared a second time in less than a week on national television late Monday to deny the claims and state he would not resign amid the controversy.
“There is an economic attack against Turkey,” Soylu told a panel of journalists on Haberturk Monday. “They want Turkey’s economy to shrink and lose its capability to maneuver. I am not the subject. Turkey is the subject of an operation.”
