Reis Sedat Peker[2][3] (Turkish:[(re'jis)seˈdatpeˈcæɾ]; born 26 June 1971)[4][5][6] is a Turkish mafia boss[7] and whistle-blower who has made various allegations about Turkish politicians and numerous government engagements in illegal activities through his own YouTube channel.[8] He has described himself as a pan-Turkist and Turanist.[9]
Early life and education
Sedat was born in Adapazarı, in the Turkish province of Sakarya. He spent considerable time in Germany. In a 1999 interview with Milliyet he self-identified as a pan-Turkist and Turanist.[9]
Career
Peker was tried in 1997 for the murder of the drug smuggler Abdullah Topçu, but acquitted. The two other defendants in the same case, alleged to be Peker's employees, were sentenced to life imprisonment.[9] After the acquittal, he fled to Romania and was sought for, amongst others, protection racketeering, coercion, and incitement to murder. During this time it was reported that Peker had been visited by a minister and a member of parliament from the Motherland Party and guaranteed, in return for an unknown favor, to be only imprisoned for a short period of time.[10] As of 2022, Peker revealed that the favour that secured his release was to turn in a cassette footage of then PM Mesut Yılmaz being beaten up in Hungary because of his gambling debts.[11]
On 17 August 1998, Peker was brought to Turkey in his own free will and surrendered to the authorities. The case against him was opened in September 1998. He pleaded guilty to the crimes for which he was accused and the court found him guilty of building a criminal organization. During the trial, Peker made some remarks without further explanation: "An older member of parliament sent me an SMS which said I shouldn't behave too arrogantly. I would like to tell you (the court) everything, because if I don't it could come to pass that I commit suicide under suspicious circumstances." The prosecutors requested at least 7½ years' imprisonment, but Peker was only sentenced to eight months and 29 days. He was released on 24 May 1999.[12]
In May 2005, he was arrested during Operation Butterfly. On 31 January 2007, he was again found guilty of building and leading a criminal organization, robbery, forgery, and two counts of false imprisonment, and sentenced to 14 years and five months.[13][14][15]
Peker is allegedly a member of the underground Turkish organization Ergenekon,[16] and Veli Küçük stated in 2008 that Peker was the "son of a friend."[17] so on 5 August 2013, Peker was sentenced to ten years in prison as part of the Ergenekon trials; [18] however, he and other convicts (Doğu Perinçek,Kemal Kerinçsiz and Tuncay Özkan) were released a few months later.[9]
In May 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, he started a confession video series on YouTube announcing one video each Sunday about the deep state in Turkey. He accused Tolga Ağar, son of former interior minister Mehmet Ağar, of raping and murdering Kazakh student Yeldana Kaharman.[20][21] In addition, he alleged Mehmet Ağar's role in the killing of Kutlu Adalı,[22] and alleged Ağar's involvement, along with former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's son Erkam, in an international drug trafficking scheme.[23] He later accused SADAT, founded by retired Brigadier General and former presidential advisor Adnan Tanrıverdi, of being involved in the arms shipment to Al-Nusra Front during the Syrian Civil War.[24]
On December 12, 2021, 140journos released a documentary on YouTube featuring him and some prominent journalists and political figures like former Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç of Turkey. The documentary touched on the impact of the deep state in Turkey on the political and judicial system and how Sedat Peker's involvement with the government scandals started.[25] He also accuses the Minister of the interior, Süleyman Soylu, of having betrayed him after having protected him.[26]
Personal life
On 30 May 2008, during his incarceration, Peker married his lawyer, Özge Yılmaz.[27]
