Turkish government cannot hide corruption file forever: PM's advisor

Cansu Çamlıbel ANKARA

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's adviser, Etyen Mahçupyan.

The Turkish government will at some point address the public on the issue of corruption and this should be both convincing and transparent, according to Etyen Mahçupyan, a chief adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

“No parties or governments can escape from this forever. This is not a file that can be hidden forever,” Mahçupyan said in an interview with daily Hürriyet.

“Avoiding such an explanation would have higher costs to the AKP [the ruling Justice and Development Party],” he added.

“I do not think these [corruption claims] can reach [President Recep] Tayyip Erdoğan, but still some people are concerned that this might turn into an argument that could be used in the election campaigns,” Mahçupyan said, referring to the general elections scheduled for June 2015. Erdoğan, now president, will not run in the elections for the Prime Ministry, but he has repeatedly said he would have close links with the executive power.

The corruption claims cover a graft operation that began in December 2013, covering four Cabinet ministers, their sons and other bureaucrats. The legal charges against the former ministers have been dropped, but a parliamentary inquiry is ongoing.

If the government does not press harder on the corruption claims, it will face problems in the international arena, Mahçupyan also told Hürriyet, adding that a “realistic view would expect strong government moves on corruption after the elections.”

The prime minister's adviser, appointed to his role at the end of October, ruled out claims that people people have a right to feel aggrieved under the AKP.

“I think just the opposite. I have become freer under AKP rule, both as an Armenian and as an intellectual,” Mahçupyan said.