Notorious Turkish mob boss Sedat Peker has said he heard about a hit list that includes his name along with those of dissident Turkish journalists who have been covering his messages and allegations on social media regarding former and current state officials and their family members, local media reported on Tuesday.
“There’s talk of a death list that includes me. They added the names of some dissident journalists because they published news reports covering my statements. Why do those who hold a gun want to kill those who hold a pen? Besides, I’m the one making the statements, not the journalists,” Peker said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Referring to SADAT International Defense Consultancy, Turkey’s largest security contractor and paramilitary organization established by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s former aide Adnan Tanrıverdi, Peker added: “If you have the guts, kill me. … You are fake. People from SADAT who look religious but are actually devils, we know about you, too. Devils who want to make us believe that SADAT is a security contractor… What security contractor makes an agreement with Russia’s Alpha Group, one of the most highly specialized task forces in the world, and has them give their [SADAT’s] most talented personnel unofficial training. Alpha teams’ expertise is in both intelligence and assassination operations,” Peker said.
“Üsküdar University rector Nevzat Tarhan, who was forced to retire from the army, specializes in psychological warfare. … You say you’re a security contractor. What’s the reason for Nevzat Tarhan’s psychological warfare-related work that he has been doing for you?”
Peker, the head of one of Turkey’s most powerful mafia groups who was once a staunch supporter of Erdoğan, has since early May been setting the country’s political agenda through shocking revelations he has been making on social media about state-mafia relations, drug trafficking and murders implicating state officials.
Since June, the mafia leader has been making his claims on Twitter instead of YouTube since officials in the UAE, where he is currently living, told him not to release any more YouTube videos defaming politicians in another country.
The officials also forbade Peker from posting tweets about Turkish politicians and bureaucrats’ alleged involvement in drug trafficking; therefore, one of his latest revelations, including claims that attempts were underway in Turkey to create a “narco-structure intertwined with bureaucracy and politics,” were posted on the Twitter account of journalist Erk Acarer on September 24.
Acarer’s move, which was praised by many opposition journalists and criticized by a few, prompted Turkey’s left-wing Birgün daily to part ways with the columnist.
After the incident, the UAE officials also warned Peker not to share messages or allegations on social media by using someone else’s account, saying that he will have to spend his days in the country in complete isolation from technological devices if he chooses to violate the rules he was given.