Turkey's massive graft probe judge, prosecutor to stand trial

ISTANBUL

A Turkish court has accepted an indictment which charged a prosecutor and a judge in a landmark corruption investigation which targeted then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son and scores of businessman in 2013.

The Dec. 25, 2013, probe concerning the alleged awarding of illegal permits in building projects was described by the government as a coup attempt by its former ally, U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, and his followers within the judiciary and security establishment.

Since the investigation was aborted by a massive reshuffling in the state civil service, prosecutors and judges linked to it have been targeted. The Dec. 25, 2013, probe’s prosecutor, Muammer Akkaş, who had hit headlines by handing out a press release about the ongoing probe in an unprecedented move, was accused by the Bakırköy Chief Prosecutor’s Office of wrongful conduct, together with the judge of the case, Süleyman Karaçöl, who had accepted the Dec. 25, 2013, indictment.

The 5th Penal Chamber of the Court of Appeals accepted the indictment against Akkaş and Karaçöl, Turkish media reported Aug. 7. Both will stand trial on Nov. 25.