Can Dündar, a Turkish journalist and author living in exile, has uncovered shady relations between the deep state and politicians in Turkey based on the narratives from a series of videos released by notorious Turkish mafia boss Sedat Peker in 2021.
Peker, the head of one of Turkey’s most powerful mafia groups and once a staunch supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, left Turkey in early 2020 following the publication of a report related to arms trafficking to Syria that was allegedly carried out under the guise of humanitarian aid.
The mob boss, who lives in exile in the UAE, sent shockwaves across the country in the summer of 2021 with scandalous revelations on social media about state-mafia relations, drug trafficking and murders implicating former and current state officials and their family members.
Although Peker promised to release videos two months before the 2023 general election containing scandalous revelations about the government’s dirty laundry, he was unable to keep his promise and had to go silent in what many said was the result of an agreement between Turkey and the UAE.
Dündar’s documentary, titled “Der Mafiaboss, Präsident Erdoğan und ich” (The mafia boss, Erdoğan and I), is based on narratives from Peker’s videos about the deep state in Turkey, which have been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube.
The deep state is a common term in Turkish political discourse used to denote an alleged group of anti-democratic coalitions within the Turkish political system, including high-level figures from the Turkish military, security agencies and judiciary as well as the mafia.
The 63-year-old Dündar and co-author Stella Könemann investigated indications of a connection between the Turkish government and organized crime in the 45-minute documentary, which was released on German broadcaster ARD on Tuesday.
Odd ANDERSEN / AFP
Dündar told the German Press Agency (DPA) last week that he hopes to awaken the public in Turkey with critical contributions on German television, adding that there is “enormous interest” in such broadcasts in Turkey.
“The topics we address are an absolute taboo there,” the journalist said.
Longstanding claims that the mob boss had recorded a video containing revelations about President Erdoğan’s dirty laundry are confirmed by journalist Erk Acarer in the documentary.
“Sedat Peker recorded for a very long time and distributed [the recordings] to [people in] various places, including İstanbul,” Acarer said.
The video containing Erdoğan’s secrets is said to serve as Peker’s “life insurance.”
In June 2021 Peker said he had been warned by UAE authorities about the “high security risk” of his videos filled with bombshell accusations, particularly against then-Turkish interior minister Süleyman Soylu.
Peker subsequently stopped sharing the content, leading to comments that he had been threatened by the Turkish government.
Turkish media reported in December 2022 that Peker told people in his close circle that Soylu’s visit to the UAE in November 2022 was for the purpose of requesting his extradition.
According to DPA, there will be a Turkish-language version of the documentary available in the ARD media library, and it will also be featured on the #Özgürüz YouTube channel founded by Dündar.
“Every article I write, every interview I give, puts me in danger. But someone has to take that risk,” Dündar told DPA.
Dündar also said the biggest challenge in the documentary was to use Peker, who was likely responsible for an attack on him in 2016, as the primary source.
The journalist hopes that the documentary will help German decision-makers gain more insight about what is happening in Turkey and with whom they are actually in contact, while nurturing relationships with the Turkish government.
Dündar, former editor-in-chief of the Cumhuriyet daily, was arrested and jailed for 92 days for reporting on the interception of Syria-bound trucks allegedly belonging to Turkish intelligence. He was arrested on November 26, 2015 and released on February 26, 2016 following a Constitutional Court decision.
Shortly after his release and an attack on him, Dündar quit his position at Cumhuriyet and left Turkey as scores of other journalists under pressure have done. He has lived in Germany since June 2016.