Handlesblatt — The facts look like this: at the end of November , the Turkish military downed a Russian fighter jet because it was supposedto have violated Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. But why Turkey responded. so violently is the subject of considerable speculation .
On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was seeking to protect its borders and Turkmen settlers in northern Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sees it differently : In his opinion, Turkey was seeking to protect their businesses with the terrorist militia IS. And Erdogan’s third son Necmettin Bilal Erdogan whose business was at risk , because Putin bombers systematically destroy oil smuggling operations of IS.
This is only one of many theories for the shooting. Nevertheless, there is some evidence to suggest that there is some substance to these allegations. Although on paper the president’s 34 year old son, Bilal Erdogan has a flawless resume which includes a Harvard University degree, and some working experience at the World Bank, his actual biography has quite a few dark spots, Handelsblatt writes.
In 2006 Bilal Erdogan returned to Turkey from the United States – according to media reports , in order to buy a fleet oil tanker . For what purpose , is not really known . What is clear is that he is one of three equal owners of the shipping company BMZ Group.
In 2013, Bilal Erdogan was suspected for money laundering involvement by prosecutors looking at large bribes to the government where his father was suspected to be one of the key players. The evidence included a dossier which of photos and phone recordings between Bilal and his father where the then PrimeMinister instructs his son to let ” all the money in the house ” disappear.
Many described the recording as authentic while the courts did not accept it as credible evidence. However, there have been other occasions when the finger of suspicion was pointed at Erdogan’s son.
In early 2014, there was a record of another phone conversation, which was about a ten million dollar payment. There have been no direct indications about the purpose of the payment, but the media speculated that it was for bribes in connection with the construction of an oil pipeline.
Bilal’s involvement with a charitable Foundation fund to buy land on which it plans to build new dormitories for university students has also led to allegations of collecting hundreds of millions of dollars from certain businessmen to fund the acquisition of the Sabah daily and ATV channel in return for public tender, and shady land and building permit deals. In 2014 Bilal’s was involved in a scandal over the sale of land in an upmarket neighbourhood in Istanbul involving a Saudi businessman accused by the United States of being an Al Qaeda financier.
From Handlesblatt German edition – additional material Apokoronas News
