December 01, 2017•Update: December 01, 2017
By Sorwar Alam
ISTANBUL
Ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesman Mahir Unal said Friday the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s allegations of presidential ties to offshore money was now the subject of a judicial probe.
Speaking to reporters following Friday prayers in Istanbul, Unal said: "The issue is now a matter for the judiciary.”
He again rejected the allegations and stated that the main opposition party was attempting to change Turkey’s internal agenda.
The CHP has distributed photocopies of the bank receipts to the media.
"As far as I understand, these receipts are photocopies. We will talk about Turkey's agenda through photocopiers?" Unal said.
A photocopy of documents does not ensure the accuracy of the documents, Unal said, urging the original copies be submitted to the judiciary.
“Unless you see the original copy of a document, that document is fake,” he added.
He underlined that “the nature of these documents is false, as long as the content is not known by us”.
He mentioned that Ankara Public Prosecutor’s office demanded the original copies presented by the CHP leader as evidence of his claims, upon legal complaints by the accused parties.
“They will hand over their original documents to the judicial court. Then the judge will decide,” said Unal.
On Tuesday, Kilicdaroglu, in a speech to party lawmakers, presented documents he alleged were evidence of his claims that relatives of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had money abroad.
The AK Party accused Kilicdaroglu of telling "lies", calling on him to present the documents in court to prove the claims.
Erdogan rejected the allegations and vowed to resign if they were proved.
Atilla case
Mahir Unal also touched upon an ongoing trail in the U.S. against Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a former deputy general manager at Turkish state-owned lender Halkbank.
“There is a process that does not comply with international law, which is not even covered by natural law.”
Riza Sarraf, who was arrested in the U.S. in March last year, is giving evidence for the prosecution against Atilla as well as seven other defendants being tried in absentia.
“If the agenda in Turkey to be determined on the statement of a person who says 'I agree with the American state' in order not to stay in jail, and if the law in Turkey is to be operated through the American judiciary, we do not accept such an understanding.”
This is a process that was successful on Dec. 17-25, 2013, and it is now on the global scale, he added.
He was referring to a so-called graft probe against top government officials to overthrow Turkey’s elected government followed by a large-scale raids on Dec. 17-25, 2013, which led to the detention of prominent figures.
