Protests, public demonstrations, and panel discussions around Turkey have marked the one-year anniversary of the largest corruption and bribery investigation in the history of the country, which went public last December.
“All governments that are involved in corruption first steal money and then democracy,” said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), in a panel discussion on the issue on Wednesday.
Idris Naim Sahin, leader of the Nation and Justice Party (MİLAD) and a former interior minister, was also present at the discussion, noting that a political stance, which says “the government steals but they also work” is not transparent or legitimate.
Dozens of government officials and prominent businessmen close to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the then prime minister and current president, were arrested on graft charges on December 17, 2013.
On December 25, 2013, Erdogan announced a major cabinet reshuffle, replacing 10 ministers, including the economy, interior, and environment ministers, who had resigned from their posts after their sons were arrested in the scandal.
A Turkish prosecutor on Tuesday formally dropped all charges against government officials stemming from the investigation.
The former Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes Unit of the Istanbul Police Department, Yasin Topcu, said, “In terms of evidence, I have never seen a case file so full and complete.”
“I would also argue that if the case files of all the investigations around the world - of ministers, prime ministers, princes - were to be compiled, they would not have half as much evidence as we had on any one of the ministers.”
