Turkey nabs dozens over ‘Gulen-linked’ sex tape scandal
Ankara blames Gulen for the July 15 coup aimed at toppling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and has embarked on a crackdown that has exposed his alleged influence in every aspect of Turkish life.
Deniz Baykal, then leader of the secular opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), was forced to resign in 2010 after a tape emerged purportedly showing him in a compromising position with another woman said to be an MP in his own party.
Similar scandals then affected prominent figures in the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) from 2011. The origin of the tapes has never been clearly explained.
But the state-run Anadolu news agency said at least 89 arrest warrants had been issued over the tapes in the wake of the coup.
At least 36 people had been detained so far with efforts continuing to pick up 53 others.
Citing prosecutors, it said that the detentions had been made in connection with the investigation into the Fethullah Terror Organisation (Feto), Turkey’s name for Gulen’s group which the preacher fiercely rejects.
It said that the way the videos were obtained appeared to bear the trace of Gulen’s group, which even before the coup was accused in Turkey of eavesdropping on top officials including Erdogan.
The felling of the veteran Baykal, now 78, after a decade at the top of the CHP raised hopes among opposition supporters the party could break the domination of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
But while his successor Kemal Kilicdaroglu has stabilised the CHP, it has so far failed to make significant inroads at the ballot box. — AFP
from Malay Mail Online | All http://ift.tt/2aNwZ9W
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