Police raid Turkish political party for throwing illegal gambling parties

ADANA – Doğan News Agency

The MİY was founded after the Trust Party was closed following 44 police raids, and has already seen three raids so far this year, following eight last year. DHA Photo

Police raided the provincial headquarters of the Raising of the Nationalist Will Party (MİY) in the early hours of Jan. 9 - not for political reasons but for throwing gambling parties.

The MİY is thought to be a shadow organization founded to cover illegal gambling activities.

Twelve people, including Öztürk Sezer, the head of the party, were detained in the police raid in the southern province of Adana over claims that they were the organizers of the gambling parties.

Gambling is completely illegal in Turkey, apart from on certain sports.

A total of 238 people were fined for gambling in the double-raid, which also covered a district base. Others targeted in the raids are accused of providing a venue for gamblers and collecting unearned money.

Sezer defended himself, saying that he was there to personally observe claims that the branch was organizing illegal gambling sessions.

“I was curious when I read media stories that people gambled in my party. I was there to see what was going on. I was waiting for the provincial head and then the police came in,” he reportedly said.

The MİY had probably paid the gamblers’ past fines, as the police found a number of vouchers in the office of its provincial head, Kamil Yücel.

The MİY was founded after the Trust Party was closed following 44 police raids, and has already seen three raids so far this year, following eight last year.

In the latest raid, the police entered by cutting a re-enforced entrance gate at the HQ.