President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s younger son Bilal Erdoğan, who was one of the prime suspects in Turkey’s largest corruption case ever which was revealed on Dec. 17-25, 2013, has settled in the city of Bologna in Italy, along with his wife and children following the June 7 parliamentary election in which the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that President Erdoğan founded lost its majority in Parliament, a Turkish daily has reported.

According to the Cumhuriyet daily, Erdoğan’s son moved to Italy following the election to continue his Ph.D. education at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna, where he suspended study years ago, and has enrolled his children in a school there. Bilal Erdoğan also reportedly asked for security guards from the Italian government.

Citing confidential sources, the newspaper said Bilal Erdoğan made the decision to leave the country and register in the school that he started in 2007 following the June election after the AK Party failed to secure enough seats in Parliament to form a single-party government. The result also undermined Erdoğan’s goal of gaining 400 AK Party deputies in Parliament and switch the country to a presidential system that would increase his powers.

An official from the school’s administration refused to answer Cumhuriyet’s questions, saying it cannot disclose information about its students. However, Cumhuriyet says Bilal Erdoğan has already completed his courses for the Ph.D. and is only required to write his thesis, a process which does not require him to be at the school permanently but still enables him to secure residential permission for two years.

On Sunday night, Twitter whistleblower Fuat Avni’s claimed that Bilal Erdoğan went to Italy on Sept. 27 with large sums of money. Pro-government media outlets have confirmed the whistleblower’s allegations; however, it is claimed that he is there because of his Ph.D.

Saying Bilal flew to Italy on Sept. 27 and the plan is for him to remain there for a while and possibly bring some family members over at a later time, Fuat Avni wrote: “They are planning to keep Bilal in Italy until the [Nov. 1] election. They will determine whether he will be coming back according to the situation after the election.”

Claiming that there is a plan in place for President Erdoğan and his family to escape if necessary after Nov. 1, the whistleblower also said Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu is organizing the plan.

Fuat Avni also tweeted on Monday that after Erdoğan’s possible flight from the country was revealed, the presidential palace was concerned on Monday morning and there were fears the revelation would “cause resentment in the bureaucracy.” The whistleblower also claims other people are being used by President Erdoğan to manage his money secretly and are being sent abroad.

Source: Zaman