Fight over Erbakan’s inheritance growing

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Fatih Erbakan speaks in front of a poster of his father, late prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, at a Felicity Party meeting. Hürriyet photo

The daughter of late former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan has testified in court in relation to a criminal complaint she recently filed against seven suspects, including her siblings and brother-in-law, detailing her claims of embezzlement against them.

Zeynep Erbakan cited a number of properties which she alleged the suspects illegally acquired, including a seaside mansion in Istanbul’s Kanlıca neighborhood, a building in Ankara’s Yenimahalle district, the Milda Paper Mill in the Black Sea province of Giresun and a flour factory in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

Embezzlement allegations
The suspects embezzled the properties in question to prevent the rightful heirs to Necmettin Erbakan’s inheritance from claiming their share, Zeynep Erbakan told Ankara prosecutor Abdülkadir Güngören in her three-and-a-half-hour testimony on March 15.

“Since the entire inheritance had been seized as a result of unfair trials that were a product of the Feb. 28 process, no share of the inheritance has yet been transferred to any of the heirs,” Zeynep Erbakan’s brother, Muhammet Ali Fatih Erbakan, said in response.

Necmettin Erbakan served as prime minister from 1996 to 1997 for the Islamist Welfare Party (RP) when he was ousted in the so-called Feb. 28 “Postmodern Coup” due to his Islamist tendencies. He later founded the Felicity Party (SP).

“News stories that have appeared in the media and the press regarding the family’s inheritance do not reflect the truth,” Muhammet Ali Fatih Erbakan said.

The value of the suspects’ properties increased tremendously following Necmettin Erbakan’s death on Feb. 27, 2011, Zeynep Erbakan said in her complaint.

The incident came to the fore amid claims of fraud raised by Oğuzhan Asiltürk, a prominent politician within the SP. Asiltürk initially alleged that Necmettin Erbakan’s son, Fatih Erbakan, had embezzled a certain amount of the party’s funds and transferred them to his personal account.

Zeynep Erbakan earlier said in her complaint that the value of the suspects’ properties had tremendously increased following their father’s death on Feb. 27, 2011.

“There is information that the suspect, Mehmet Altınöz, started controlling an amount of 10 million liras in Turkish banks and registered a certain amount of real estate properties. Such information should be investigated,” the statement read.