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 vows to protect Kurds in Aleppo, accuses SDF of planting explosives
- Kurdish-led group targeting neighborhoods with mortars, machine guns, Ministry of Defense says
- Army declares Ashrafieh, Sheikh Maqsoud ‘closed military zone’ after hundreds of civilians evacuated
LONDON: The Syrian government on Wednesday affirmed its commitment to protect all citizens, including Kurds, as armed tensions in Aleppo between the Syrian army and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces continued for a fourth day.
The Ministry of Defense accused the SDF of planting explosives on roads and setting booby traps in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, and bombarding them with mortar shells and heavy machine gun fire.
The army designated the two neighborhoods a “closed military zone” after the Syrian Arab Red Crescent evacuated 850 civilians from the area.
The government said in a statement that the SDF played no role in the city’s security and military affairs.
“This confirms that the exclusive responsibility for maintaining security and protecting residents falls upon the Syrian state and its legitimate institutions, in accordance with the constitution and applicable laws,” it said.
Protecting all citizens, including Kurds, was a non-negotiable responsibility upheld without discrimination based on ethnicity or affiliation, it said.
It also rejected any portrayal of its security measures as targeting a specific community, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency.
“The authorities concerned stress that those displaced from areas of tension are exclusively civilians, all of them Kurdish citizens who left their neighborhoods out of fear of escalation,” the statement said.
“They sought refuge in areas under the control of the state and its official institutions, which clearly demonstrates the trust of Kurdish citizens in the Syrian state and its ability to provide them with protection and security and refutes claims alleging that they face threats or targeted actions.”
The government called for the withdrawal of armed groups from Aleppo.
At least three civilians and a Syrian soldier have been killed and dozens more injured in Aleppo since Tuesday. Authorities have accused the SDF of targeting medical and educational facilities.
The escalation in violence has dealt a blow to an agreement between the two sides that was meant to be implemented by the end of last year.
The Syrian government reached an agreement with the SDF in March that included plans to integrate the group’s military, territory and natural resources, including oil fields, into the new government in Damascus.
