Kamil Pasha

From the Financial Times (click here for full article)

A row over corruption allegations is emerging as the new frontline in political battles between the Turkish government and its secularist opponents and could damage the ruling Justice and Development party’s (AKP) carefully cultivated reputation for clean politics.

Last month a German court convicted three men for siphoning €18.6m ($26m, £14.7m) from donations raised in Germany’s Turkish community for Deniz Feneri, a big Islamic charity. The court found some funds had been used to buy property in Turkey.

The German court found no evidence that embezzled money had gone to the AKP. But that has not stopped the party’s detractors hurling accusations – both related to and separate from the Deniz Feneri case – against figures close to the government …

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, has repeatedly dismissed as lies claims that the Deniz Feneri case involved allies of the AKP. In particular, he lashed out at Aydin Dogan, head of Turkey’s biggest media group, whose newspapers carried the most aggressive reporting on the scandal.

But the intemperate tone of his remarks – lambasting “media terror” and calling on party members to boycott Dogan publications – has, if anything, given the affair greater prominence than it would otherwise have had…

The worst-case scenario for the AKP would be if a Turkish prosecutor, now starting to probe the Deniz Feneri case, found evidence of the party receiving funds from the charity’s German branch. That could trigger a closure case against the AKP in the constitutional court.

Tags: AKP closure case, Foreign Relations, Politics, Religion //