Binali Yıldırım, Turkey's last prime minister who has long been sidelined by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has also entered the agenda alongside the Gökçek case.
Columnist Nuray Babacan reported on Sept. 7 that Yıldırım, upon hearing of a possible operation targeting his family's companies, called several party figures to complain and said he would raise the matter with Erdoğan. Babacan wrote that it was unclear whether the call with Erdoğan took place, but that developments in the months since suggested the appeal had little effect.
Then, Yıldırım was announced as the head guest at an AKP loyalty gathering organized by the party's Erzincan provincial branch, his hometown, scheduled for Sept. 11.
Opposition journalist Timur Soykan alleged that the Yıldırım family's wealth was being seized, and that assets Yıldırım held abroad had been forcibly brought back to Turkey. Separately, corporate filings show Yıldırım's shipping companies now belong entirely to his wife, Semiha Yıldırım, as of May. Yıldırım's overseas wealth was previously exposed by the Malta Files and Paradise Papers investigations.
