Erdoğan attends ‘Ak troll’ wedding, chats with well-known suspect

ISTANBUL

President Erdoğan (C) was photographed with Sedat Peker (L), who has been repeatedly accused by Turkish law enforcement officials of being the leader of an organized criminal gang, and Bülent Yıldırım (R), the head of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), at Ün's wedding at Istanbul’s Beylerbeyi Palace on June 13.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has attended the wedding of an infamous pro-government social media “troll” and was photographed while chatting with a well-known criminal suspect.

Taha Ün, who has over 66,000 followers on Twitter, thanked several of his guests in a series of tweets after he married the chief of staff of Emine Erdoğan, the Turkish president's wife, in Istanbul on June 13.

Ün’s Twitter nickname is “Sağlam İrade” (Strong Will), referring to one of Erdoğan’s campaign slogans.

Besides Erdoğan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and former president Abdullah Gül, Ün thanked Sedat Peker, who has been repeatedly accused by Turkish law enforcement officials of being the leader of an organized criminal gang.

Peker, himself, had married in Istanbul the previous day to Özge Yılmaz, an attorney who defended him while he was on trial as a suspect of the Ergenekon coup trial.

Photo from stand-up reception

Journalists were not allowed in Ün’s wedding at Istanbul’s Beylerbeyi Palace, but a photo served to the press afterwards showed Erdoğan and Peker talking with each other at the stand-up reception, joined by Bülent Yıldırım, the head of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH). 

The Istanbul-based İHH had hit international headlines when Israeli commandos attacked its ship carrying aid in international waters off the Gaza Strip in 2010.

Ün was previously accused of hate speech, as he has been passionately supporting the Justice and Development Party (AKP) on social media. 

As a member of the team notoriously known as “Ak trolls” for their support of the AKP, Ün had once suggested on Twitter that “the best way to communicate” with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) could be through a chopping knife.


Last month, the AKP changed its much-criticized digital strategy, announcing that it was replacing its infamous “trolls” with a “regular army.” After it lost its single-party majority in the June 7 election, a pro-government pundit in the media accused the AKP’s social media “trolls” for the party’s drop in fortunes.