Status: 30.11.2023, 15:07 PM
By: Erkan Pehlivan
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The Turkish president calls Israel a "terrorist state." Nevertheless, his son Ahmet Burak apparently maintains good contacts there.
Ankara – Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly lashed out at Israel in the wake of Hamas' attack on October 7. Israel is a terrorist state and Hamas is a liberation organization that wants to liberate its country and people, the Turkish president said. It is all the more irritating that the son of the Turkish president, Ahmet Burak Erdogan, is said to be doing business with Israel. This is according to research by Turkish journalist Metin Cihan. The focus of the research is on the merchant ship "Halit Yildirim".
"On October 11, the ship, named Halit Yildirim, belonging to Manta Denizcilik, left the port of Iskenderun, which belongs to Limak, and arrived at the Israeli port of Ashdod on October 14. After loading, it went to Florida on October 18 to deliver its cargo," the journalist wrote on X.
Erdogan's son faces criticism in Turkey
However, the "Halit Yildirim" is registered to the company "Manta Denizcilik" based in Istanbul. The owner of the company is Mert Cetinkaya. Cetinkaya is also listed as a member of the board of directors of MB Denizcilik. According to the report, the chairman of the company's board of directors is Ahmet Burak Erdogan, the son of the Turkish president. Both companies are listed at the same address, the journalist announced, posting excerpts from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce on X.
Relations between the Cetinkaya family and the Erdogan family extend beyond business. According to the report, the Turkish president is even said to have been Cetinkaya's best man.
The son of the Turkish president is said to be doing business with Israel. © dpa/Martin Mejia
Erdogan's family files a complaint against journalists
In a statement, Manta Denizcilik calls the journalist's accusations "manipulative" and a "lie". The ship did not belong to the president's son. The company had no choice but to do the transportation business with Israel. "As stated in the message, the ship did indeed start its journey on October 11. However, the contract of carriage that is the subject of the trip was concluded, as is customary in maritime transport, weeks before the start of the war, and the operating company cannot do anything to prevent this trip," the Turkish company's statement reads.
The company did not enter into a freight contract for Israeli ports at the beginning of Israel's unjust, unlawful and inhumane operations against Palestine. In addition, Erdogan's son's company has no ties to the merchant ship Halit Yildirim. Meanwhile, the president's family has filed a criminal complaint against the journalist for insult and defamation. The journalist is also wanted on an arrest warrant and had to leave Turkey because of hundreds of other of his colleagues.
Opposition also accuses Erdogan family of doing business with Israel
Meanwhile, the Turkish opposition also assumes that the Erdogan family does business with Israeli companies. "While President Erdogan condemned Israel for bombing a hospital (editor's note: in Gaza) on October 17, Erdogan's company loaded cargo in an Israeli port," said Hasan Bitmez, a member of parliament from the Saadet Partisi, in his speech to parliament. MP Erkan Bas made a similar statement at a press conference. "While Erdogan is defending Palestine, praying for Palestine and condemning Israel from the stands, his son's ship is entering an Israeli port," Bas said. "The AKP is a gang whose religion, beliefs and morals are all about money."
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The leader of the pro-Kurdish HEDEP party, Meral Danis Bestats, is also angry with the Turkish president and his family. "Why do you continue your relations with a state that you call a terrorist state?" The Kurdish-Alevi journalist Aziz Tunc, who lives in German asylum, is not surprised that the Turkish government has targeted the journalist. "What they're saying is that anyone who gets too close to Erdogan and his family will burn themselves. They use the full tyranny of the state against anyone who interferes with Erdogan's plans and policies. Erdogan is trying to rule the country as a single man by suspending the law," Tunc told IPPEN's fr.de. MEDIA. (Erkan Pehlivan)