Hürriyet, Turkey
Sept 8 2008

Ertugrul Ozkok: I assumed the Turkish PM would have investigated fraud

One of the suspects in the Deniz Fener case has claimed that he sent
financial aid funds collected from the faithful to the prime minister.

They were presented with a receipt for the amount.

I assumed that the PM would go after the person who made the claim
regarding him.

Bu no, what does he do?

He protects them and launch an attack on us.

More so, he claims we are corrupt.

The faithful thieves exploited the emotional unity of the people. And
the prime minister accuses us of being corrupt.

The German court is judging the case of these emotion exploiters.

But still the prime minister turns to us and says we are `corrupt’.

The German prosecutor says in his indictment that one of the officials
from the organization delivered a portion of the donated funds to the
prime ministry.

He also icludes the document relating to this claim in the file.

The leader of Turkey’s main opposition party exposed the related
documents at a press conference.

In other words, this speech gives moral support to the thieves who
exploited the generous nature of those people who donated funds.

***

I read the news once again.

I tried to understand why the prime minister was so heated up about
this.

What did the indictment that Deniz Baykal make public actually say?

It said that certain individuals, who thought they were being clever,
said that they had transferred funds to the Prime Ministry.

And in return, they received a cash receipt.

Why is Erdogan so enraged?

The prime minister says, `I didn’t take any money’, this means that
the situation is worse for him.

It means that the German swindlers and their Turkish collaborators
orchestrated fraudulent acts and falsely involved the prime ministers
name in it.

Who do you think the prime minister should be standing behind at such
a time?

The thieves of emotions?

Or the newspapers that report of this news?

Logic and conscience would dictate that in this type of situation he
stand by the judges hearing the case and the newspapers and television
stations following it.

If this money was not transferred to the prime minister, before he
focuses his attention on us, should he not make a stand against these
allegations and those who carry out these fraudulent acts and say `how
dare you associate my name in this,’ and file a lawsuit against those
making this association.

Instead what does he do?

He embraces the thieves of conscience and starts hollering at us.

He doesn’t just shout, he humiliates us.

He makes moral statements.

The corruption is not here, it is in Germany, and they used your name
to raise funds from believers.

They are the people that you should be angry at; they are the one’s
who dirtied the water Mr. Prime Minister.

***

Yesterday’s speech revealed once again that the prime minister does
not like being criticized.

The prime minister has no tolerance to his being rejected.

The prime minister has transformed this into a matter of religion
saying, `Our children, our brothers would never commit crimes, our
people would never be involved in corruption.’

He fails to smell the foul stench emanating from certain local
councils and organizations and business circles that show him support.

Our prime minister is accustomed and has become more accustomed to
demanding obeisance.

He likes his surroundings to remain calm and peaceful, and he wants
things to remain inside his circle.

But this era is an era of communication.

Nothing can remain hidden.

If an explanation is not being sought here, it is surely being sought
somewhere else.

While immorality and corruption become localized issues, the rule of
law, seeking explanations and handing out punishments are becoming
global.

Even while the government does everything in its power to silence the
media in Turkey, a legal case outside of their control involving
people from within their sphere begins.

As you see, the wolf can not devour the lamb despite all its excuses.

And a final remark to the prime minister¦

As Turkey prepares for the historic football match taking place in
Yerevan and we all wait in hope of peace.

On such an important day, do you think it is right to steal the lime
light from the president, the Turkish people and the Turkish national
football team?