Erdoğan says 'won’t allow' bureaucratic tutelage 'to reemerge' following developments over Ayhan Bora Kaplan case

Duvar English

Turkish President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated on May 15 that they “won’t allow bureaucratic tutelage to reemerge” in the country.

Speaking at the parliamentary group meeting of his party, Erdoğan said, “We are following every incident that has recently come to the agenda in all its dimensions, down to the finest detail. We will not allow bureaucratic tutelage to reemerge.” 

Erdoğan’s comments came after the recent detentions in the case regarding Ayhan Bora Kaplan’s crime syndicate. 

The case is seen as a rift between Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on the one hand, and the government ally Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on the other.

Kaplan was arrested on charges of leading an organized crime group shortly after his attempt to leave the country was thwarted in September. The crime syndicate reportedly was close to former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and the organization became stronger during his term.

Yerlikaya's camp claims that the investigation is targeting criminal organizations and people linked to them.

Some high-ranking police officers have been arrested for involving in the syndicate, some for being in charge of the Ayhan Bora Kaplan operation.

On May 14, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said, “There is a conspiracy that cannot be passed over with the suspension of a few police chiefs, as the target is the Nationalist Movement Party, the AKP, the People's Alliance and ultimately Turkey,” referring to the ones who were in charge of the operation against Ayhan Bora Kaplan.

Erdoğan also said, “Whoever violates the law, we will hold them accountable. As you know, there were those who wrote pessimistic scenarios about the AKP in the last 22 years. There were those who gave us life expectancy from newspaper headlines. There were those who said (the AKP) was over and changed their path. Their names are now invisible. But praise be to Allah, we are here. We are standing straight and firm. The cause is here and inshallah it will be here tomorrow.”

Erdoğan once again commented on his party’s local election defeat and said “If we have friends who are tired, if we have friends with mistakes, we will give them a rest,” in the upcoming party congress.

The President once again said Turkey needed political softening and they had a “productive” meeting with CHP leader Özgür Özel in this regard.