ANKARA: Turkey has issued a new arrest warrant for a convicted crime boss who fled prosecution abroad and then began publishing videos alleging grave crimes committed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's allies.
The chief public prosecutor's office in Ankara issued the arrest warrant for Sedat Peker on Wednesday as he prepared to issue the eighth in a series of YouTube videos that have received millions of views each.
The Anadolu state news agency said Peker was now also suspected of involvement in a terror group led by a US-based Muslim preacher that Turkey blames for a failed coup against Erdogan in 2016.
The accusations thrown by Peker at Erdogan's allies -- including a former prime minister, top officials and their relatives -- range from corruption and drug trafficking to rape and assassinations.
The videos have focused heavily on Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, whom Peker alleges had offered him protection and then tipped him off about new impending charges, allowing him to flee abroad.
Peker, 49, began recording his videos after police raided his home in Turkey in April and allegedly mistreated his family.
He says he now lives in the United Arab Emirates.
None of the allegations has been proven and those involved have protested their innocence.
But the political scandal sparked by the videos comes at an inopportune time for Erdogan, who is losing ground in opinion polls because of a depreciating currency and runaway inflation.
Addressing the allegations directly for the first time on Wednesday, Erdogan vowed to stand "side by side" with Soylu, a nationalist who is seen as one of Turkey's most popular and powerful officials.
"We have crushed criminal organisations one by one for 19 years," Erdogan said Wednesday.
"We follow criminal gang members wherever they may flee to in the world."
Turkey seeks arrest of crime boss at heart of video scandal
https://arab.news/b5qdf
Turkey seeks arrest of crime boss at heart of video scandal
- Ankara chief public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Sedat Peker on Wednesday
- Accusations thrown by Peker at Erdogan's allies range from corruption and drug trafficking to rape and assassinations
Syrian government announces ceasefire in Aleppo
- Syrian government forces have been fighting the Kurdish-led SDF force in Aleppo, where at least 21 people have been killed in several days of clashes
DAMASCUS: Damascus: Syria’s defense ministry announced a ceasefire in several neighborhoods of Aleppo on Friday after days of deadly clashes with Kurdish fighters.
“To prevent any slide toward a new military escalation within residential neighborhoods, the Ministry of Defense announces ... a ceasefire in the vicinity of the Sheikh Maqsoud, Alashrafieh, and Bani Zeid neighborhoods of Aleppo, effective from 3:00 am,” the ministry wrote in a statement.
Syrian government forces have been fighting the Kurdish-led SDF force in Aleppo, where at least 21 people have been killed in several days of clashes.
Both sides have traded blame over who started the clashes on Tuesday, which comes as implementation stalls on a deal to merge the Kurds’ administration and military into the government.
The worst violence in Aleppo since Syria’s Islamist authorities took power has also highlighted regional tensions between Damascus ally Turkiye and Israel, which condemned what it described as attacks against the Kurds.
