Deputy calls on PM to prove claims about Gezi, graft probe

With the reverberations of a corruption scandal still dominating Turkish politics ahead of critical local polls, an independent deputy who resigned from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) after opposing a party proposal to shut down prep schools has called on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to prove the claims about the Gezi Park protests he raised last summer, and also about the graft scandal that went public late December.

Although nine months have passed since the Gezi protests broke out, Erdoğan has failed to come up with convincing evidence to back up his claims that the anti-government protests were an internationally sponsored plot to weaken a rising Turkey and its economy, the former AK Party deputy said.

In an open letter to the prime minister, former AK Party deputy İdris Bal vehemently criticized the prime minister for his ultra-polarizing language and discourse which, he says, leads to alienation among broad segments of society.

In strong criticism of the prime minister, Bal called on Erdoğan to act as a responsible politician free of any hate speech and slander. If not, he said, the prime minister should resign to serve the country's interests rather then stoking antagonism and division among the society.

Posing over 20 questions, the former AK Party deputy demanded evidence and clarification from the prime minister on a number of issues and claims raised by Erdoğan since last summer. His questions centered around a sweeping corruption scandal that has implicated Erdoğan and many of his close associates, the Gezi protests, and the government's reaction to the corruption investigation, among other matters.

According to Bal, Erdoğan never feels the need to back up his claims with strong evidence, but rather just uses them as a political tool and tactic to outwit his opponents and persuade his own electoral base. This, however, according to the former AK Party deputy, is troubling and disturbing given the fading credibility of the prime minister, who should have to provide a legal, rational ground for any of his claims about the Gezi protests, the graft probe and the prosecutors involved in the investigation.

The questions deputy Bal asked are as follows:

1. After the Dec. 17 anti-corruption operation, you leveled serious allegations against a prosecutor who you once praised for his work in the past and who had been provided with an armored vehicle for protection. You said that prosecutor [former graft prosecutor Zekeriya Öz] went abroad 22 times last year and had others pay his vacation expenses. You never raised the issue again. Will you prove your claims?

2. You praised an Iranian businessman who stands accused of being the ringleader of a suspicious money-laundering and gold-smuggling ring set up to dodge sanctions against Iran. But news reports suggest that the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) presented you with a report about [Reza] Zarrab [concerning his relations with a number of ministers] eight months ago. If this report true, why did you make such a statement [praising Zarrab]? Why did you not give credit to the MİT report?

3. You highlight the national will in every speech you make. Why were the summaries of proceedings about ministers [over allegations of bribery and tender rigging] sent to Parliament, the real representative of the national will, so late? Why were the files and their content about the ministers abridged [as opposed to using the original files]?

4. You said you had received a letter from Mr. Fethullah Gülen. You said the content of the letter involved bargaining. The same letter was also delivered to the president and there was no political bargaining in it. When it came out, you never raised the issue again. Why did you make such a claim? Will you explain this? Will you apologize for that claim, one that has turned out to be bogus and wrong?

5. Why don't you ask for a technical analysis of the leaked audio recordings that are purportedly of your son in a European country or in America? No one is satisfied by the science and technology minister's explanation in which he said, ‘I feel that the recording was doctored.’ Will you make an attempt to have a technical examination carried out by objective and independent institutions that everyone can agree on?

Published on Today's Zaman, 17 March 2014, Monday