The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest warrant for Kurdish businessman Muhammed Yakut on Saturday after he released a new video making further shocking allegations about the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its associates, including claims regarding former finance minister Berat Albayrak’s mysterious disappearance in November 2020, the Gazete Duvar news website reported on Saturday.
Albayrak, son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, vanished from the public eye following his unexpected resignation as finance minister. He resurfaced in May 2021, attending Friday prayers at the recently built Çamlıca Mosque in Istanbul, only to disappear from public sight once again.
In his latest video, Yakut alleges that Albayrak’s initial disappearance was due to a violent altercation that took place after his relationship with model and actress Özge Ulusoy was exposed. Yakut claims that Albayrak was seriously injured during the incident and was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment.
Yakut alleges that Albayrak met with Ulusoy on a yacht belonging to Erkan Yıldırım and that Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu possesses tapes of the affair.
Yakut details the alleged incident that led to Albayrak’s disappearance, stating that Emine Erdoğan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, went to the yacht with her son Burak Erdoğan after learning about the incident. Yakut alleges that a violent altercation took place and Burak battered Albayrak, resulting in the latter being seriously injured and taken to the hospital.
In his video Yakut also claims that Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, who also owns Medipol Hospitals, helped treat Berat Albayrak under a false name and that Emine Erdoğan, through proxies, owns 30 percent of the shares in the hospital chain. Yakut claimed that Albayrak underwent a six-hour jaw operation at Medipol Hospital in İstanbul’s Bağcılar district.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued the arrest warrant for Yakut on charges of “unlawful acquisition and dissemination of personal data” and requested an INTERPOL Red Notice through the Ministry of Justice.