How an exiled mafia boss became the center of Turkish politics

In the turbulent 1990s, corruption involving an intricate network of top government officials and underworld figures — labeled the “deep state” — became synonymous with Turkey’s name and image globally. But after the turn of the century, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, promising to curtail corruption, rose to power — first as prime minister, later as president.

In the last couple of years, mafia figures — many with ultranationalist backgrounds — have made a gradual return to public view on various platforms. One is Alaattin Cakici, who was released from prison last year as part of a parole eligibility bill that aimed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in penitentiaries. Shortly after his release, Cakici issued a public letter threatening Turkey’s main opposition leader.

The most recent is Sedat Peker, who gained national fame in 2016 when he threatened to “bathe in the blood” of so-called peace academics — those who had signed the Academics for Peace Initiative — declaring them terrorists. After a criminal case was brought against him in the matter, Peker was acquitted. He even went on to receive business awards from various institutions, including “most charitable businessman” from Milliyet Daily in 2017.

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Much remains unknown about his actual business activity. Ryan Gingeras, a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, told Al-Monitor, “Peker has made the headlines for his activities in the last decade but we really do not know what he really does, what are his businesses or who he is for that matter.”

Since May 1, Turkey has been rocked by the exiled mafia boss’s YouTube videos, in which he described alleged incidents involving crime, corruption and state secrets. Peker, 49, has been at the intersection of media, politics and Islamist networks for over a decade now. Peker has posted five videos, each about an hour long. His popularity has skyrocketed at an increasing rate with each release. The fourth video surpassed 5 million views in five days. Peker has promised more videos as comments under his posts reveal a well-engaged audience asking detailed questions about several issues.

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