Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan uses almost every possible tool to give his opponents a hard
time and silence them.
In the first part of
this series, we threw some light on Erdogan's use of his country's intelligence
agencies in doing this.
In this part of the
same series, we show how Erdogan is collaborating with mafia leaders around the
world in crushing the opposition.
The authorities in
Argentina arrested two Turkish nationals recently and accused them of founding
an armed group.
Upon
investigation, the armed group turned to have been active in the kidnap of
Turkish opposition figures and businessmen, especially those allied to Turkish
cleric Fethullah Gülen.
Erdogan
has been demonizing Gülen's Service Movement and confiscating its funds
unrightfully.
The
surprising thing for Argentinean authorities was that the armed group contained
a former senior official of the Turkish intelligence within its board. It also
contained the deputy head of the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party.
The
list of charges leveled against the two Turkish nationals included their
cooperation with some Turkish state officials, and the creation of a network
with the aim of blackmailing the members of Gülen's movement.
Investigations
around the group showed that the aforementioned Turkish intelligence official
leaked the names of the members of Gülen's movement who would be arrested by
Turkish authorities to the two Turkish nationals founding the armed group.
The
two nationals then contacted the people included in the list and tried to
extort money from them.
The
two nationals contact Turkish opposition figures and pretend to be affiliated
to the Turkish intelligence with the aim of blackmailing them, the
investigations showed.
They
added that the members of the group also use force with opposition figures who
refuse to succumb to verbal threats.
