Thanks to the efforts of some very kind people nearby, I managed to get this highly amusing video translated of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an desperately attempting to threaten his way out of the allegations against him exposed by wikileaks.
Below the video, some details from Hurrietdaily
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ
In a harshly worded response to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said Wednesday that he would file legal action again U.S. envoys he accused of making false claims against him.
Speaking during a municipal ceremony in Ankara, Erdo?an called on the U.S. administration to take action to discipline the diplomats who “slandered” him in the leaked State Department documents.
“This is the United States’ problem, not ours… Those who have slandered us will be crushed under these claims, will be finished and will disappear,” the prime minister said in his first comprehensive comments about the WikiLeaks release.
“My friends are working [to take action] against these diplomats in terms of national and international law. We will continue this process there. Thereafter, they [the diplomats] have to think [about the consequences],” Erdo?an said. “We have discussed these issues with the U.S. administration. They have extended their apologies, but it’s not enough. They have to take all necessary measures against these diplomats.”
One leaked cable that was signed by former U.S. envoy to Ankara Eric Edelman claimed that Erdo?an had eight secret accounts in Swiss banks, a claim the American diplomat said had been made to the U.S. Embassy by two contacts. He did not give further evidence. Other documents accused Erdo?an of reaping personal gain from a billion-dollar privatization.
In addition to criticizing the U.S. administration and its envoys, Erdo?an also slammed the Turkish media and the head of the main opposition for publicizing the allegations.
Saying he does not have a single penny in Swiss banks, Erdo?an said: “Now I tell the opposition leaders that the moment they prove otherwise, I will resign. But will they still sit in their places [if they cannot prove it]?”
Calling the opposition “opportunist” for repeating slanderous remarks made by foreign diplomats, Erdo?an accused his political rivals of being dishonorable, while also lashing out at media outlets that reported the claims.
“An honorable media [outlet] or media member should first ask the person these slanders are made against [about the claims],” he said. “If the subject is the prime minister, you should ask: ‘Esteemed prime minister, is this true?’ If the prime minister tells you, ‘No, I have nothing to do with it,’ then you should not write about it. But if you write it without asking, without investigating [the validity of the claim], with the purpose of defaming, that is immorality, worthlessness.”
Accusing Edelman and other former U.S. diplomats of expressing their personal hatred against him and his government, Erdo?an repeated his statement that the opposition’s use of these claims for political purposes was shameful. He also called on the public to wait and see what the purpose was behind the leaks as the situation was still very new.
PM recalls the past
The WikiLeaks release is not the first time he has been made the subject of such slanders, Erdo?an said, noting that a journalist who claimed the prime minister had $1 billion in personal assets was now in prison as a suspect in the ongoing Ergenekon case. The journalist Erdo?an referred to is Tuncay Özkan, who has been in prison for the last two years without being convicted. Ergenekon is the name of an alleged gang accused of plotting to overthrow the government in 2003 and 2004.
“One billion dollars… That is more than the budget of the Istanbul municipality at that time,” Erdo?an said. “And now this gentleman is in [prison]. There are still media [outlets] and columnists following the same path.”
Swift reaction from K?l?çdaro?lu
The head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, swiftly reacted to Erdo?an’s remarks, saying it was the United States, and not him, that made the allegations and that it was not right for the prime minister to direct his criticism at the opposition.
“To whom do those allegations belong? Isn’t it the United States? Why doesn’t [Erdo?an] ask his questions to them instead of asking us?” CHP chief Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu told reporters in the northwestern province of Bursa. “What did I say? I said the allegations regarding the prime minister are grave and he has to make a satisfactory explanation for them.”
Noting that other ministers had denied allegations against them via written statements, K?l?çdaro?lu said Erdo?an needed to respond in a more consistent and measured way.
“It is the United States that the prime minister should show reaction to and settle accounts with,” the CHP leader said. “If he does not have the power to do that, it is another issue. It is not right to say, ‘I can’t settle accounts with the United States, so let the target be the opposition.’”
What I’ll never get is why the leaders of the civilized world still give this mad, screaming, bug-eyed savage arab statesman treatment. It’s beyond belief, it simply doesn’t make any damn sense.
The mainstream media in Europe, not surprisingly, seems to love this idiot even more. Since 2003 or so, The Economist has not publish one non-adulating article about Erdoclown that I can remember. Everything about him and his party is always wonderful, always proof that “islam isn’t opposed to the West, but the West must learn to respect islam for how wonderful it is”, not exactly in these words, but with the same meaning. And they never miss their fetishist use of the expression “mildly islamist” to refer to all things Erdoclown. Never mind that, as Amil Imani has written, talking about “mild islamism”, or “mild islam” is like talking about a mild pregnancy…
Oops… I meant to write The Economist has not published…
How is the translation?
From the way the man is reacting I would say the cables are accurate he does have a lot of money hidden away.
Richard you can take that to a Swiss bank.
I think I would prefer Lichtenstein, Switzerland has started cooperating with the police of other nations in most cases.
He has money in the bank. Lots of its. What a raving wannabe hitler he is. Perhaps the mild islam of a mild hitler mildly pregnant with gencocidal tendencies towards the filthy kuffar
I wonder what he dreams about mildly of course. The main stream media would be “alarmed” One thing about the msm they are always alarmed when their mild fantasies hit the wall. Reminds me of that famous book: Shit on the wall by Hoo Flung Dung.
Seems as though the bad-guys are against WikiLeaks. What else do we need to know?
What he dreams about is world conquest with him as the new Caliph.
The bad guys are against wikileaks because some of the cables damage them, but the same cables also damage our intelligence gathering capabilities and are right now costing people their lives. Between the way Obama and his team has damaged our intelligence gathering capabilities and the way wikileaks has (although that is probably a redundant statement) we are in many, many ways open to new attacks on the scale of 9-11, and this time the President (at least until 2013) won’t shut down the nation and move to prevent follow up attacks. From what I am reading al Qaeda is planning several attacks and it is highly likely the assets to carry out those attacks are already in place in the US. Unless we manage to lay our hands on more information soon they will occur sometime next year and it will be Obama’s fault.