Former Turkish Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin testified in an Ankara court in the case involving religious figure Alihan Kuriş and the Süleymancılar movement he leads. One of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s sons was also mentioned in the testimony.
Turkish authorities accuse the leaders of Süleymancılar of forming a criminal organization, money laundering, fraud and financial misconduct. Dozens of suspects have been detained in the high-profile case.
As previously reported, people close to Kuriş used vehicles registered to the former minister. In August this year, one of the vehicles carried three mysterious Belarusian citizens with diplomatic passports. Şahin’s testimony indicates that one of the Belarusians was one of Lukashenka’s sons.
In court, Şahin said that he had provided an Audi Q7 registered in his name to a delegation arriving from Belarus. The vehicle was involved in an accident in Bodrum. To prevent the Belarusian guests from being left in a difficult situation, Şahin provided them with another vehicle, tv100.com writes.
Ömür Yücel was responsible for arranging vehicles and accommodation for the Belarusians. According to Yücel’s testimony included in the case file, he received the vehicle in Istanbul. He then drove it to Bodrum together with Lukashenka’s son and his bodyguards.
“The flashing beacon was removed from the vehicle and left with the delegation, and the vehicle was later involved in an accident,” the outlet reports. It is unclear from the publication whether anyone from the Belarusian delegation was in the vehicle at the time of the accident.
Şahin was also asked in court whether he was aware of information sent to the Turkish authorities in 2011 about Turkish businessmen being blackmailed using women from Belarus. Şahin, who served as interior minister from 2011 to 2013, said he had no knowledge of such information but knew three individuals identified in the report as being involved in the scheme.
Information about three Belarusian citizens with diplomatic passports appearing in the case against Süleymancılar emerged last week.
It was reported that the three Belarusian citizens arrived in Turkey via Bodrum Airport on August 6. An automatic vehicle recognition system recorded all three in a car traveling on the Güvercinlik–Torba route on August 21. Later that day, they switched to another vehicle in Bursa, and on August 22 they flew from Turkey to Minsk.
It was also reported that the Belarusian citizens used two SIM cards that had been activated in Ömür Yücel’s name several days earlier.
It should be noted that members of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s entourage have been vacationing in Bodrum for years. The government business jet EW-301PJ is frequently used for these flights. In July and August this year, the aircraft flew between Minsk and Bodrum several times.
