Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of
Turkey
suggested Wednesday the U.S should fire diplomats who reported claims in leaked
State Department cables that he and his family are corrupt and said he planned
to take legal action against them.
In a sometimes-furious televised address at the start of an investment
conference in
Ankara
,
Erdogan said: "My friends in the judiciary, and we, are working to do what
is necessary about these diplomats. We spoke to the
U.S.
They
did apologize, but it is not enough. The
U.S.
should do what is necessary about these diplomats.
"Those who smear us will be crushed under their accusations, they will
end, disappear," Erdogan said, adding that one person who previously
claimed he made $1 billion in kickbacks as mayor of Istanbul was now awaiting
trial as a member of an alleged terrorist organization.
"I don't have a single kurus in Swiss banks. If you prove this, I will
resign. But will you stay in your posts?" he said.
A senior aide to Erdogan clarified that lawyers from the justice ministry were
examining the feasibility of suing under international,
U.S.
and
Turkish law.
The decision to seek legal action after first playing down the cables and
attacking the credibility of WikiLeaks appears to have been triggered by
domestic politics ahead of elections next June, and suggests the leaks could
have continued fallout for
U.S.
diplomacy. Opposition party leaders are demanding that Erdogan and his
government answer the claims of widespread government corruption in the cables.
Among cables published so far regarding
Turkey
is
one dated
Dec. 30, 2004
, from
former U.S. Ambassador Eric Edelman, in which he writes about widespread
corruption, naming several ministers from the ruling Justice and Development
Party, or AKP.
"We have heard from two contacts that Erdogan has eight accounts in Swiss
banks; his explanations that his wealth comes from the wedding presents guests
gave his son and that a Turkish businessman is paying the educational expenses
of all four Erdogan children in the U.S. purely altruistically are lame."
Edelman retired from the State Department last year and is now a nonresident
scholar at the
Merrill
Center
for
Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies. Contacted through a spokeswoman, he declined to comment on Erdogan's
remarks or on the WikiLeaks cables Wednesday.
Earlier in the year, Edelman reported claims "that have never been
proved" that Erdogan had made his fortune by accepting kickbacks as Mayor
of Istanbul and that he "directly" benefited from the privatization
of the state oil refinery company Tupras.
An unsigned February 2002 cable report named Erdogan's brother Mustafa and
several close friends of the prime minister as beneficiaries in an Iranian
natural gas pipeline deal, in which the award went joint venture in which the
Turkish party would be a little known company called Som Petrol.
Erdogan on Wednesday also singled out a cable that accused his son-in-law Sadik
Albayrak of embezzlement. "The man doesn't know about anything else but
writing, they made him a builder," Erdogan said.
Addressing opposition leaders, Erdogan said it wasn't for him to disprove such
claims, but for the people who made or repeated them to prove them. He accused
the
U.S.
ambassador, apparently Edelman, or bearing a grudge and suggested there was
jealousy involved at
Turkey
's
success in securing popularity and influence in the
Middle
East
, Kosovo and other countries.
"If you respect your country and yourself, you will not embrace smears
thrown out by foreigners at the Prime Minister of this country," Erdogan
said. "An honorable media organization would stand up and
ask..."Honorary Prime Minister, is there something like this. If there is,
we will research it." But if you take action without asking, it would be
immorality and worthlessness."
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party
responded swiftly on Wednesday. "If [Erdogan] is saying, 'I cannot call
the
U.S.
to
account, thus I should be angry at the opposition party instead', that is not
right," Kilicdaroglu said. "This is a serious claim.... It is said
that he has eight different accounts in Swiss banks. Somebody has to answer
this."