The president of Turkey, who has been in the international spotlight lately, with his provocative moves against Greece, was rumoured to have had an extra-marital affair with an actress.
It was shortly before the crucial Turkish elections in March of 2014, when allegations of a love scandal starring … Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerged on Turkish social media and tabloid press.
According to those reports, the Turkish president had a secret mistress, the presenter, and actress, Defne Samyeli.
According to an odatv4 post, six years ago, social media accounts allegedly linked to the Gullen movement exposed the illegal relationship and talked about concluding a muta nikahı (a temporary contractual agreement between a man and a woman under Islamic law allowing for sexual relations for a determined period of time).
In fact, it was rumoured that a compromising video with the Turkish president and the brunette beauty had been leaked.
The tabloid press reported that the person who had blown the lid on of Erdogan’s extramarital affair was Samyeli’s husband, Eren Talu.
The affair of Talu’s wife with the Turkish president is said to have been the reason the couple divorced, in 2011, after 16 years of marriage.
Following the revelation, as tabloid reports covered at the time, the Turkish president reportedly became furious and took “revenge”, destroying Talu’s company, which went bankrupt.
After the revelations of the explicit video, Erdogan, beside himself, threatened to shut down social media. At that time, he had suspended Twitter. For her part, Erdogan’s alleged mistress had denied the rumours on CNN Turk and had previously announced lawsuits against those who spread them.
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Samyeli has attended Erdogan’s political rallies, actively expressing her support and is said to be on friendly terms with Turkey’s first lady, Emine. After her divorce, the brunette presenter entered into a relationship with Emre Akin, the former son-in-law of the politician Husamettin Ozkan.
A year after the rumours, in 2015, speaking to newspaper Hürrriyet, Samyeli said she had become the victim of a dirty war between the two extremes, referring to the government and the Gullen movement.
“I made a statement about the slander against me and my family and said that I would start legal proceedings so as not to fall into the hands of those who spread this disgusting gossip,” she said, again refuting the publications.
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