Turkish PM Erdoğan unconscious like Don Quixote: MHP

ANKARA

Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) deputy parliamentary group chair Oktay Vural speaks at Parliament Dec. 27. Cihan photo

Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) deputy parliamentary group chair Oktay Vural was furious at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for downplaying the authenticity of evidence constituted by a bag which is said to have been used for handing over bribes to now-replaced EU Minister Egemen Bağış.

Vural, speaking at a press conference in İzmir, his electoral district, suggested on Dec. 27 that Erdoğan had turned into “a Don Quixote who fights against windmills.”

“The prime minister is not only defending those that have been bribed and those who have been involved in corruption. He has become so unconscious that he says ‘I know him, he is a good guy, he likes charity activities,’ for Reza Zarrab who drowned almost one third of the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party] government in bribes,” Vural said.

Zarrab, an Iranian-Azeri businessman, is accused of gold smuggling and illicit money transfers from Iran to Turkey and is under arrest as part of a large-scale graft probe that have begun on Dec. 17.
Zarrab is also accused of having bribed Bağış for a personal affair. Last week, footage emerged showing Zarrab entering Bağış’s office with bags and going out empty-handed.

“A book in that bag is now in my hands. It is ‘The Tale of Erdoğan’,” Vural said. “Shame on you [Erdoğan], you are treating the nation if is they are stupid.”

Vural was referring to recently delivered remarks by Erdoğan: “They say he entered the EU Ministry’s Office with bags, but then left without them. Is there any footage showing him handing the bags over? Can it be an approach based only on that he entered the office with bags, but went out without them? Can there be such justice? Maybe the bags contained books or something else.”