Records show former AKP deputy Kuzu spoke many times with drug lord Zindashti

Duvar English 

Historical Traffic Search (HTS) recordings indicate that former Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Burhan Kuzu spoke on the phone and exchanged messages numerous times with notorious Iranian drug lord Naji Sharifi Zindashti, according to a report in the daily Cumhuriyet on Tuesday. 

Photos have surfaced of Kuzu and Zindashti having dinner together, though the former AKP deputy said that he only spoke with the drug lord once in either 2011 or 2014. The HTS recordings also indicate that Kuzu was continuously in contact with a woman with the initials of A.U., who allegedly introduced Kuzu to Zindashti. 

The recordings were included in an ongoing investigation launched against Kuzu last month regarding the release of the infamous Zindashti. 

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Investigation Bureau launched the probe into Burhan Kuzu on Feb. 14, following reports that he pressured the judiciary in order for Zindashti to be released.

Zindashti was first arrested in 2007 in Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece district in possession of 75 kilograms of heroin and later convicted. He was released in August 2010.

Zindashti was held again in April 2018 on suspicion of several murders, instigating murder and membership in the movement of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, officially called the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

He was released six months later, with the court stating that there was no evidence tying him to murders.

A prosecutor’s office objected to Zindashti’s release and an arrest warrant was issued, but the drug lord was gone by then.

Recent reports showed that Kuzu called prosecutors and judges and told them that Zindashti’s release would be “more beneficial” for Turkish-Iranian relations.