Peker says he organized the 2015 attack on Turkey's largest newspaper, facilitated its sale

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Formerly convicted crime leader Sedat Peker, who is currently in a self-imposed exile in the UAE, has released his sixth video on YouTube, continuing accusations and confessions about his relations with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In today's video, he talked about how he organized a 2015 attack on the largest newspaper in the country, which he said paved the way for its acquisition by the pro-government Demirören Holding.

Addressing Yıldırım Demirören, whom he described as a "guest star" of the new video, he said he owned the newspaper "thanks to my contribution."

He claimed that an AKP deputy had asked to help them carry out the attack because "Our youth branches don't know about these kind of things." Peker didn't disclose the name of the AKP deputy he mentioned.

On September 7, 2015, a group of people stormed Hürriyet's office in Bağcılar, İstanbul. Gathering outside of the building the mob threw rocks at the building and inflicted damage inside it. They were later taken out by police.

CLICK - Daily Hürriyet attacked after clashes with PKK

AKP Youth Branches Chair Abdürrahim gave a speech to the crowd in front of the newspaper building, accusing it of being on the same side with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in a time of increased armed conflict in the country's Kurdish-majority southeast.

After Peker's video, Boynukalın said on Twitter that he was "relaxed" now as it was revealed that those who attacked the building were not AKP members but the members of a crime group. He later deleted this tweet.

In another tweet that is still online, he says, "What will those who chose not to believe me when I said, 'Protests with rocks and sticks don't have a place in the tradition of our party'? I repeat, we only held a statement for the press because of its slanders at the time."

He also said he had never had a conversation with Peker.

The Doğan Media group, which also owned Hürriyet and was the largest media conglomerate in Turkey at the time, was sold to the Demirören Media Group in March 2018 for 916 million dollars, which was said to be much less than the group's real value at the time.

CLICK - Profile of the Demirören Media Group in Media Ownership Monitor 

What happened?

Sedat Peker had to leave the country in late 2019, for which he had initially blamed Berat Albayrak, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son-in-law and the then finance minister, but had later said he had been misinformed about the situation.

Describing himself as a Pan-Turkist, he had become a staunch supporter of the AKP after his release from prison in 2015.

However, since May 2, Peker has been releasing videos on YouTube, where he makes serious allegations against senior government officials and people close to the AKP, including seizure of property, sexual assault and murder.

In the video he released on May 13, he claimed that Soylu informed him about an investigation against him so that he was able to leave the country before getting arrested.

He also claimed it was Soylu who made him turn against Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the former finance minister.

While Peker said he had "invested in" Soylu since the start of his political career at the True Path Party (DYP), the minister denies he had any contact with Peker. (DŞ/VK)