Erdogan’s ex-confidant Bayraktar: Will he speak?

Erdogan Bayraktar, Turkey’s proverbial “contractor-in-chief” for a decade, who resigned from his post in the government after his son was briefly detained on corruption charges, and called on PM Erdogan to follow suit, is seen as the “black box” of government’s mostly unaudited business.
Turkey's outgoing Environment and City Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar talks during a handover ceremony in Ankara December 26, 2013. Turkey's opposition accused scandal-hit Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday of trying to rule via a secretive "deep state", after a cabinet reshuffle that would tighten controls on police already beleaguered by government-ordered purges. Bayraktar, one of the three cabinet members who quit on Wednesday over their sons' detention, broke ranks by urging the premier to
Turkey's outgoing Environment and City Planning Minister Erdogan Bayraktar talks during a handover ceremony in Ankara, Dec. 26, 2013. - REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Yasemin Çongar

The two men certainly share more than a name. In fact, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ex-member of his government Erdogan Bayraktar considered each other comrades and confidants for a couple of decades.

They seem to have much in common:

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