43 AKP MPs unhappy with wrongdoing
Some 43 members of Parliament from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) say “there was wrongdoing in the tender.” The 43 AKP deputies are convinced that “if there’s wrongdoing in the tender, those responsible should be tried in the Supreme Council.”
An investigation commission was set up for former Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz with the signatures of the 43 MPs. Yılmaz was sent to the Supreme Council with the AKP’s votes and tried there. The tender that Yılmaz was accused of wrongdoing in related to the privatization of Türkbank. The outcome of the tender regarding Türkbank’s privatization was cancelled following a document that came from the Security Department. The AKP carried this event, which took place in 1998, to the Supreme Council in 2003.
Tender for ship
Recently, one of the audio recordings claiming corruption is about tenders on corvette ships. An audio recording of alleged conversations between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Metin Kalkavan, the owner of the Sedef Shipbuilding Yard, was recently released on social media.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Sezgin Tanrıkulu filed a motion to Parliament on March 3 about this. He questioned whether the prime minister advised Kalkavan to make an application to the Prime Ministry Inspection Board, claiming that “full competition wasn’t provided” in order for the tender to be given to Kalkavan. Tanrıkulu also questioned whether Erdoğan had called the Undersecretary for Defense Industries (SSM) at the end of the meeting and asked for the tender to be cancelled.
Supreme Council
Are these true or not? These are the relevant questions for claims of wrongdoing in a tender.
Erdoğan has personally confirmed his conversation with Kalkavan and said the state benefited from the cancellation of the tender. Is this true or not? This is perfectly suitable for an investigation
A motion to investigate, set up a commission, vote in Parliament and send to trial in the Supreme Council. Where are the members of the AKP that pushed the button to send Yılmaz to the Supreme Council? Where is the law, where is conscience?
‘Down with this type of journalism’
The audio recording is just as it was written in the book. Milliyet’s former editor-in-chief, Derya Sazak, detailed in his book all of the incidents that were reflected in the recent voice recording – an incredible document of present times - writing: “Down with this type of journalism.” According to the latest audio recording, Erdoğan scolded Milliyet’s owner Erdoğan Demirören until he started crying. What made Erdoğan go crazy were the “İmralı minutes,” the conversations between members of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan. He wanted Sazak and Namık Durukan, who penned the article, to be fired, and used insulting words for both of them. When the minutes go to print, the expression “down with this type of journalism,” uttered by the prime minister will make its way into the media’s history.
It is the first time in its 90 years’ history that Turkey has seen a prime minister who regards journalists who criticize him and who pursue news as enemies.Erdoğan is far ahead of all Turkey’s past examples of pressure on the media. Media organizations always protest about this pressure. International press organizations do the same. Now it is the mission of the European Parliament, the European Council and the revelant bodies of the United Nations.
