Chief Public Prosecutor to combine leaked tape files

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office have combined investigation files for a leaked tape that allegedly belonged to former Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal and several other videos which caused the resignation of two members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on the grounds that Gülenists illegally created the videos.

Leading Justice and Development Party (AKP) figures, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his inner circle accuse U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen of forming the “Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ)/Parallel State Structure (PDY)” which allegedly worked at police and other state institutions as insiders to topple the government.

The decision came as a new investigation was launched by the chief prosecutor’s office after Metin Çobanoğlu, who was the deputy head of the MHP back then, filed a complaint after the issue was mentioned in a book by Sabri Uzun, the  former head of the police intelligence department. 

The indictment claimed that the “right of privacy” and “dwelling immunity” in all the cases were breached by the “same group,” referring to FETÖ/PDY.  

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe in 2010 on the grounds that the “right of privacy” and “dwelling immunity” was breached after the Internet broadcasting of a sex video allegedly showing Baykal with his then-secretary, Nesrin Baytok. Upon the release of the images, Baykal resigned from the CHP’s leadership although he denied any accusations.

MHP deputy leaders Recai Yıldırım and Çobanoğlu also resigned from their posts upon the request of party leader Devlet Bahçeli following the release of a tape which allegedly showing the politicians kissing two women.

Another video image allegedly showed the politicians getting close to the wife of a retired soldier. The video ends with the politicians apparently stating that the “MHP administration needs to resign.”