العربية
EnglishClaim: Figures linked to Turkey’s ruling AK Party get lenient treatment in post-coup probes
Article in Al Monitor claims AK Party officials and their relatives are treated more softly in post-coup investigations
Putschist general Mehmet Disli, brother of AK Party deputy Saban Disli, under arrest
On 22 June 2017, Al-Monitor published an article written by Sibel Hurtas in which it was claimed that some figures linked to Turkey’s ruling AK Party were treated in a lenient way in investigations surrounding last year’s attempted coup when compared to the others from different societal groups.
However, the author of the article purposefully ignores the fact that a considerable number of the relatives of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) politicians have been expelled from civil service, detained or arrested, along with AK Party’s expulsion of a great number of MPs, founding members, and mayors from its own party.
Here are some striking examples of punishments handed out to the relatives of AK Party politicians as Hurriyet, Cumhuriyet and T24, the anti-government media outlets, detected:
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Three brothers of AK Party MPs have been detained so far in post-coup investigations. AK Party Founding member and Deputy Chairman Saban Disli’s brother, Major General Metin Disli has been in jail since right after the coup attempt.
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Hasan Haluk Dulger, brother of Mustafa Hilmi Dulger, Kilis MP, has been arrested within the scope of Fetullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO) investigation. He was an academic member at Necmettin Erbakan University.
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Isa Karasayar, brother of Orhan Karasayar, Hatay MP and also Administrative Chief at Grand National Assembly of Turkey, has been in jail since 6 October 2016 within the scope of FETO investigations.
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Some figures, who once stood as AK Party MPs, have been arrested, such as Ilhan Isbilen, Hami Yildirim, and Ahmet Tevfik Uzun.
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A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Hakan Sukur, former AK Party MP.
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Some MPs’ sisters or brothers have been expelled from civil service for ties to FETO. For instance, Emine Ay, a teacher at public school, and sister of Salih Cora, Trabzon MP, has been expelled.
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Enver Basaran, Mayor of the Askale district of Erzurum; Savas Akarcesme, Mayor of the Camoluk district of Giresun; Halil Ibrahim Oral, Mayor of the Ilgin district of Konya, and Ali Erdogmus, Mayor of Nar district of Nevsehir have all been expelled from the party. Furthermore, Basaran and Akarcesme have also been arrested.
The author of the article intentionally only referred to the fact that Omer Kavurmaci, son-in-law of Kadir Topbas, mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, was freed on 4 May 2017. However, he had been detained again as part of the FETO investigations on 16 June 2017, four days before the date the article was written.
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