Is UAE playing in Erdogan’s dirty hands?
Turkish mafia boss Sedat Peker has gone incommunicado from his safehouse in Dubai, the organised crime leader’s lawyer Ersan Barkın said.
Barkın in a televised interview said it has been five days since he had not received a response from Peker on the phone used to communicate with the mob boss with, T24 news website reported on Tuesday.
Turkish journalist Erk Acarer also announced on Thursday that the mob boss had lost his access to the internet in his hideout in the United Arab Emirates.
Barkın’s and Acarer’s statements came after UAE’s de-facto leader, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan’s meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday.
The 49-year-old organized crime leader, who has for months been residing in the Gulf nation, made international headlines earlier this year over his controversial social media posts, blaming past and present Turkish government officials of a string of crimes, including corruption and drug trafficking.
Poker in June switched from YouTube to Twitter to release his statements, after officials in the UAE warned him against his videos implicating Turkey’s politicians.
In October, the UAE placed new social media restrictions on Turkish mobster, according to Halk TV. Peker had been told to abstain from posting political messages via other accounts by UAE officials, who cited “security protocols in the country,” it said.
The October move came amid a thaw in relations between long-time regional rivals.
Peker’s social media accounts have been banned in Turkey since June, citing national security and public order concerns.