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Former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, who has been widely criticized for allegedly having questionable relationships with mafia and crime groups, has announced that he will not seek another parliamentary term at the end of his current term as a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Soylu, 55, who was last elected to Parliament in the May 2023 general election, discussed recent political developments and addressed accusations from opposition politicians and journalists linking him to mafia and criminal organizations in an exclusive interview with the Gazete Duvar news website published on Thursday.
When asked about his future plans in politics, Soylu said having served as a member of Parliament for four terms, he would only offer his expertise and experience to his party if consulted after the end of this term, which will expire in 2028.
“I will leave active politics the day [President Recep] Tayyip Erdoğan leaves politics,” the MP said.
Erdoğan also said in early March that the March 31 local elections would be his “last,” signaling a possible end to his more than two decades of dominance in Turkish politics. However, there are claims that he could run for another term if he manages to change the Constitution to make it legally possible.
Soylu joined the AKP as the former leader of the Democrat Party (DP) in 2012. He was a vocal critic of Erdoğan and his government before joining the AKP ranks, where he served as labor minister from November 2015 to August 2016.
His term as the interior minister, from August 2016 to June 2023, was marked by controversy and allegations of wrongdoing. Earlier this year, investigative journalist Cevheri Güven released recordings implicating Soylu in a $20 million bribery scandal. He is accused of accepting bribes from Ahmed Nazari, an Iranian involved in a large-scale investment scam, and from Halil Falyalı, a slain casino boss known for his illegal gambling and drug trafficking operations. The bribes allegedly facilitated Turkish citizenship for Nazari and protected both individuals from police investigations.
During Soylu’s tenure as interior minister, there were also allegations of involvement in international drug trafficking, with mob boss Sedat Peker accusing Soylu and other officials of facilitating cocaine networks in 2021.
Soylu’s departure from the ministry brought his alleged involvement in international drug trafficking and ties to mafia groups into the spotlight, leading to significant changes in the Turkish police force and crackdowns on international drug rings.
When asked about the allegations against him, Soylu said that he wanted to respond to the accusations about his alleged involvement in crime in court.
“Let the prosecutors draft an indictment. Fighting these slanders will be my primary duty,” he said.
When he was asked about photos that have emerged showing him with people who had been detained or arrested on various charges, including drug-related or murder offenses, he said he does not have any links to those individuals.
He said the existence of photos taken with all manner of people has become a part of daily life since mobile phones became widespread and that he had posed for photos at least with 2 million people while at the interior ministry. “According to the estimates of our colleagues, I have posed for photos with one-seventh of Turkey’s population. … Among them, there may be some who have been involved in crimes,” the MP said.
Soylu also talked about the accusations that the AKP government has made Turkey a safe haven for international criminals by, among other things, granting them citizenship.
“The claim that citizenship was granted to drug lords is a huge slander. … These are all manipulations. … No international criminal can become a citizen,” Soylu said.
In 2018, Turkey lowered the investment criteria for foreigners to become Turkish citizens in a bid to boost investment in the economy. The regulations stipulated that foreigners could become citizens if they owned property worth $250,000 for three years, down from a previous value of $1 million. The minimum investment necessary to obtain Turkish citizenship was increased to $400,000 in 2022 and $600,000 in 2024.
Law enforcement officers have conducted over a thousand operations targeting international criminal gangs, arresting thousands of suspects, since Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya took office in June of last year.
Some of the international crime gang members investigated allegedly obtained citizenship during the term of Yerlikaya’s predecessor, Soylu.
VICE World News reported in April 2023, citing European law enforcement officials, that Europe’s most-wanted drug traffickers are increasingly evading capture by becoming Turkish citizens.
European law enforcement officials, speaking to VICE, have grown concerned that criminals linked to large-scale drug trafficking are exploiting Turkey’s policy of issuing citizenship to investors while also taking advantage of the fact the country refuses to extradite its new citizens.