The videos of a fugitive Turkish mobster – who is now in Dubai – have been viewed 75 million times. Each week he makes revelations about top Turkish government officials.
It should be noted that his accusations have not been verified, but that does not diminish the interest with which Turkish society is watching them.
Sedat Peker, 49, was a longtime supporter of President Erdogan.
Last April, however, authorities arrested 60 of his associates and also "mistreated and humiliated" his wife and two daughters, he claims.
The mobster's goal is to take revenge on his enemies and especially the Minister of the Interior, against whom he makes very serious accusations – including that he is trafficking drugs between Turkey and Venezuela.
The reason he is doing this, as he claims, is because he was ‘betrayed’ by the minister, despite the fact that he had even helped him in factional disputes within his party.
So far, Erdogan has escaped the mobster's attacks, but that might not continue to be the case. He hinted that the Turkish president would be his target in the near future, although he says he will wait until after Erdogan’s meeting with President Biden on June 14, "so as not to weaken his hand."
Erdogan has faced many and serious allegations of corruption in the past – there are even recordings
So far, he has succeeded in avoiding any consequences by attributing them to the desires of his own and his country’s enemies to harm him.
This tactic has worked so far. After all, Erdogan controls the judicial system.
From the great popularity of the videos, however, it seems that the number of people – and of course, they are not only Turks – who are watching the revelations of the fugitive mobster with interest is very large.
This is because society knows what is happening. People understand that the Erdogan government has gone beyond the corruption of previous governments, but they do not know exactly what is going on and to what extent.
So they assume the worst.
And since the judicial system does not give them answers, the Turkish people turn to the videos of the mobster.
Of course, great care is needed. We are talking about accusations by a mobster, a criminal trying to punish his enemies – government officials.
But these videos have taken on huge proportions and it would be good to investigate what is really going on – if this can ever be possible in today's Turkey…