‘Worse days yet to come,’ Erdoğan warns opposition leader confronted by pro-gov’t supporters

(Updated with opposition leader's reaction)

Centre-right opposition leader Meral Akşener “was taught a lesson” when her visit was cut short in the Black Sea region after being confronted by ruling party supporters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday.

AK Parti TBMM Grup Toplantısı https://t.co/qHtFks5JKZ

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) May 26, 2021

“Mrs. Bride placed me together with (Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), and then visited my hometown Rize,” BirGün newspaper cited Erdoğan as saying, referring to Akşener, whose husband is from the Black Sea region. “And as you can see, Mrs. Bride was taught quite a nice lesson.”

The people of Rize would not stand for the president being grouped in with “baby killers like Netanyahu”, Erdoğan said.

“She should pray that they didn’t go too far while teaching her a lesson. This shows their good manners,” he added.

Akşener was accosted by supporters of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last week, as she visited İkizdere town in northern Rize province amid protests against a planned industrial quarry in the countryside.

A skirmish then broke out between supporters of her Good Party (İYİP) and the AKP, forcing the former interior minister to leave İkizdere for the neighbouring Trabzon province.

“You had to take a plane and leave,” Erdoğan said. “This is just the one case. There is so much more to come. Just wait and see. These are your better days.”

Erdoğan’s comments on Akşener arrived as he addressed organized crime leader Sedat Peker, who has been revealing alleged ties between the criminal world and officials in Erdoğan’s government in a series of hour-long videos he began sharing earlier this month.

The AKP has transformed Turkey from a state where “so-called godfathers” held power to “a level where no system but the law reigns”, Erdoğan said, pledging to continue a fight against criminal organisations “without compromise”.

The president said 85,000 drug trafficking suspects had been detained in more than 530,000 operations in the last 3.5 years, with law enforcement confiscating $63 billion’s worth of illegal drugs.

Peker, in his seven hour-long videos released to date, alleged that Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, former prime minister Binali Yıldırım, and former police chief and interior minister Mehmet Ağar, whose son is currently a lawmaker with the AKP, were involved in illegal activities, including massive amounts of cocaine trafficking from Latin America.

None of Peker’s claims have been proven, but there are some international news stories that appear to coincide with his accusations, including drug busts in Venezuela and a DEA investigation in the United States.

Erdoğan on Wednesday stood by the AKP officials, saying Yıldırım was being “targeted through his son.”

“We have stood by our interior minister in his fight against criminal organisations as well as against terrorist organisations,” the president said. “Our nation sees who walks with terrorist organisations, criminal gangs, and the sworn enemies of Turkey.”

Later on Wednesday ,the İYİP leader dismissed the Turkish president’s remarks,accusing Erdoğan of using her as a distraction from the problems facing his party.

"Mr. Erdoğan and his friends are going through difficult times,’’ Akşener said on Twitter. "They are using me to evade questions and deflect claims…. Don’t worry, no harm will come my way anywhere in Turkey.’’

Sayın @RTErdogan ve arkadaşları zor günler geçiriyor.

Benim üzerimden sorulardan kaçıyor, iddiaları sektiriyorlar ama...

Rizeli kardeşlerimi zan altında bırakmalarına asla izin vermem.

Hiç merak etmeyin, bana Türkiye’nin hiçbir yerinde zarar gelmez. pic.twitter.com/awpcrq73A0

— Meral Akşener (@meral_aksener) May 26, 2021

The İYİP leader on Wednesday also urged the country’s prosecutors to take legal action over Peker’s allegations.

“Gentlemen, the reputation of the Republic of Turkey is at stake,” Deutsche Welle Turkish cited Akşener as saying while addressing İYİP lawmakers.

Stressing that the state’s dignity could not be “trampled’’ by individuals, Akşener said, “The interior minister and other subjects of allegations will step aside, prosecutors and judges of the Republic take action, and do what must be done.”