ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his government is determined to uncover the illegal organization recently made public in a graft operation that saw dozens of high-ranking bureaucrats and businessmen detained.
"We will most certainly expose this organization," he told journalists following his bilateral meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. "What interests us is the continuity of our nation."
Erdogan said he considered the Istanbul-originated judicial campaign on corruption - initiated by prosecutors - as a form of political engineering, as the 14-month audio surveillance and tracking carried out by legal sources were kept hidden from relevant security authorities.
Among the targets of the operation were the sons of ministers of economy, internal affairs and environment, as well as head of Halkbank.
"They also aim to harm the banks. It is most remarkable. This (organization) has extensions in Turkey, and has an international dimension," Erdogan said, adding that the domestic extensions in question were nestled in part in the government.
Erdogan said the ministers whose sons are suspected of involvement remain sensitive to the issue.
