by Leo Kendrick
Following a nearly two month absence, self-exiled Mafia Boss Sedat Peker made headlines with his return nearly two weeks ago in the form of a series of two Twitter threads totaling 50 tweets, in which he made new allegations surrounding the alleged links between drug traffickers and ruling Justice & Development Party (AKP) higher ups.
Peker garnered attention once again earlier this week, with another lengthy Twitter thread alleging secret meetings which have taken place between AKP members and Gülenists.
Fetullah Gülen, leader of the Gülen Movement, has been the AKP’s enemy number one in recent years, as the president and ruling party blame the cleric and his organization for the failed coup attempt five years ago. Gülen lives in exile in Pennsylvania, USA, where he has resided since the early 2000s. Repeated attempts of extradition for his alleged role in the coup attempt have been unsuccessful.
As such, any alleged meetings between AKP officials and Gulenists behind closed doors would be major news in Turkey, which officially classifies the Gülen Movement as a terrorist organization.
The new Twitter thread, shared August 17, was posted in response to claims leveled against Peker by accused Gulenist journalist Cevheri Güven. In the lengthy thread, Peter alleged that secrets meeting are being arranged between the Gulenist organization and the ruling party through AKP Ankara parliament member Mücahit Aslan, whom Peker described as the “AKP’s black box.”
Alleged Gülenist Cevheri Güven, former editor-in-chief of the closed Nokta magazine, asserted that Peker had secret dealings with Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Intelligence Head Hakan Fidan. Denying any contact with these two government officials, Peker continued with his allegations against Mücahit Aslan.
Regarding the veracity of these alleged meetings, many were unsure what to make of the mob boss’ Tweets. In a broadcast streamed on Wednesday, Medyascope’s Ruşen Çakır explained that although he found the notion of AKP-Gülenist meetings unlikely, such allegations do much to increase the legitimacy of the Gülen Movement, and that Fethullah himself would likely be pleased to hear such allegations.
Sedat Peker had previously made waves this past spring for a series of nine full-length video episodes alleging deep corruption in Turkey’s ruling elite, including alleged ties to illicit criminal activity of which Peker himself has been a part.
Following the most recent allegations, famous novelist and dissident Orhan Pamuk also remarked: “If I were to put Sedat Peker’s disgraceful allegations into a family setting, it could be a novel.”
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