PM's Adviser: Most People Believe Corruption Claims

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's chief adviser has claimed that most people in Turkey, including at least half of the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) supporters, believe claims that corruption took place in the upper echelons of the party and the government.

Etyen Mahçupyan, who is also a columnist with the Akşam daily, told CNN Türk on Tuesday that AK Party voters made a "rational decision" by re-electing the ruling party because they preferred the "corruption to a coup." Mahçupyan claimed that the ruling party would probably have gone after corrupt officials had the Dec. 17 bribery investigation been presented in a professional and comprehensive way and aimed only to incriminate corrupt officials. He said the AK Party would most likely receive 45 percent of the vote after ridding the party of corrupt officials.

He said prosecutors tried to manipulate the corruption investigation that went public on Dec. 17, echoing the government narrative that alleges the Dec. 17 probe was a "coup against the government." Mahçupyan added that AK Party voters decided to support the government because they think corrupt officials are less of a threat than an attempt to topple the government. Soon after the corruption investigation was launched, then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other officials traveled across Turkey in the lead-up to municipal elections and characterized the investigation as an attempt to bring down the government. Months later, prosecutors dropped the charges against the suspects.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)