Turkey: PM Erdoğan calls for probe into ties with German foundations

Prime Minister Erdoğan accusses an unnamed German foundation of having illegal ties in Turkey. AA photoTurkey’s prime minister continued his accusations on Monday regarding the opposition parties’ alleged links to German foundations.

PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized activities by a German foundation, without naming it, claiming it was signing business agreements with municipalities run by the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP even though it claimed to be a foundation.

Erdoğan said the media did not reflect his words truthfully about a German foundations’ financial assistance going to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and CHP municipalities.

Erdoğan said during a press conference he organized before flying to South Africa that the issue of German foundations had been on the agenda in Turkey before, however it was not challenged in the past. He called on the CHP to investigate the municipalities under its control.

“The German foundations have been having similar kind of initiatives in Turkey for a very long time.  The leader of the main opposition party should investigate the party’s own municipalities,” Erdoğan said, adding that he would meet up and share information with him.

Chief Deputy of the CHP Muharrem İnce slammed Erdoğan’s claims, saying that the move was an effort to cover up the Lighthouse e.V. case.

The Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, replied to Erdoğan’s claims with a written statement and said the allegations of the prime minister were “groundless and slander.”

The German Konrad Adenauer Foundation also issued a press release on Monday, saying it had not offered any sort of credit to any Turkish municipality or local administration in the country. The foundation also said all their activities were compatible with the laws and regulations in Turkey.

October 3, 2011
SOURCE: Hürriyet Daily News