Erdogan Turkey’s prime thief: Opposition leader

Leader of Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) says Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a ‘prime thief,’ amid controversy over alleged phone conversations between the premier and his son.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu made the remarks on Friday during his election rally in the northwestern part of the country, Turkey’s Hurriyet daily reported.

“He (Erdogan) is not working for you [the nation], but for his pocket. I will never call him prime minister again. He is the prime thief,” the CHP leader said, accusing Erdogan of “robbing the Turkish Republic and his nation.”

Kilicdaroglu also urged those who had previously voted for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to “see the facts.”

The leaked phone conversations, posted on YouTube, allegedly revealed Erdogan asking his son, Bilal, to turn millions of euros in cash stashed at several houses into “zero.” Bilal at one point can be heard saying, “There is 30 million euros (USD 41 million) more.”

The phone conversations, the authenticity of which could not be verified, were said to date back to December 17, 2013.

Erdogan told lawmakers in parliament on February 25 that the leaked recordings were a “vile attack” against the prime minister of Turkey and vowed to take legal action against those behind “this dirty setup.”

On February 24, Turkish pro-government newspapers Yenisafak and Star reported that associates of US-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, in the police and the judiciary had eavesdropped on the phone calls of Erdogan, politicians and businessmen for three year.

Erdogan has accused rivals in the Gulen group of acting as a “state within a state” trying to topple his government by prompting the high-level corruption probe against his close allies. Gulen has denied any involvement.