Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
In a surprising move, former Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek — long accused of corruption but never prosecuted — has been summoned to testify before the Organized Crime Investigation Bureau of the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on Sept. 4.
A financial crimes operation targeting the Süleymancı religious sect, led by Alihan Kuriş, whose given name is Ali Erhan Kuriş, 46, was carried out across 17 provinces. Detention orders were issued for 49 people, including Kuriş.
Muhammed Yakut, a controversial figure known for his YouTube exposes targeting crime networks and political figures, died all of a sudden in Duisburg, Germany, just hours after contacting Turkish journalist İsmail Saymaz to say he was preparing to make “important statements.”
The financial crimes police raided Şile Municipality on July 10, detaining Mayor Özgür Kabadayı as part of the widening corruption investigations targeting CHP-run municipalities. It was yet another ordinary day for the main opposition, which has been facing near-daily legal turmoil since Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was detained on March 19. CHP Istanbul Chair Özgür Çelik said Kabadayı and several others were detained in house raids at 1:30 a.m. Arrest warrants were issued for at least six individuals, said the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Imagine an organized crime network, protected and fed by political connections that it steadily expands.
Turkey’s sweeping drug operations have expanded to include prominent figures from business and entertainment, triggering debate over whether the focus remains on organized crime kingpins or on well-known public personalities.
So our word of the week is soygun, robbery - as in art heist. On a quiet Sunday morning in Paris, the world’s most visited museum turned into a crime scene. In under eight minutes, thieves hit the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon (the home of France’s Crown Jewels) and fled with royal pieces tied to Empresses Marie-Louise and Eugénie, and Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. Investigators say the crew used a lift to breach an upper window. Ministers Rachida Dati and Laurent Nuñez confirmed that the alarm tripped and police arrived within minutes. The symbolism stings more than the price tag. (Think eight figures.)