Former President Süleyman Demirel, one of the symbols of the center-right, was known not only for his political wit, but also for his succinct sayings. When right-wing extremist groups shed blood in the period before the military coup in 1980, he said: “You don't make me say that right-wing people commit crimes.” And after murders committed by Islamist organizations, he took a protective stand behind the perpetrators : “How could the finger on the trigger be the same as the one on the prayer beads?” When the queues in front of the gas stations grew longer and longer in the energy crisis, he defended himself: “Was there gasoline somewhere and we swallowed it?” Of course they solved most of such statements are broadly contradicting themselves. What distinguished Demirel among the top populist politicians,possibly keeping him in power all these years was his way of standing behind the lower and middle classes. He started almost every speech with a direct address to all social circles individually: "My worker, my farmer, my pensioner."
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With the end of his tenure as president in 2000 Demirel withdrew from the political stage. In 2002 the AKP began to govern Turkey under Erdoğan. In the post-economic crisis elections that wiped out the parties in the center, it was the lower and middle-class milieus most affected by the crisis who brought Erdoğan to power. Protest voters brought a party founded only a year earlier from the tradition of the national world view (Milli Görüş) to the government. Like Demirel before, Erdoğan stood on the side of the layers that had given him power. But the stronger he got, the more he moved away from Demirel's populism à la “My worker, my farmer, my pensioner”. For Erdoğan it was now: "My media, my state, my rich."
The Pandora Papers recently published by the International Network of Investigative Journalists ICIJ have shown the economic system created by Erdoğan. The documents show that numerous Erdoğan-affiliated entrepreneurs have moved hundreds of millions, which they earned through tenders that Erdoğan awarded them, to tax havens thanks to a signature that Erdoğan had not given. The first name in the Pandora Papers was Rönesans Holding, which built Erdoğan's 1000-room palace. Thanks to Erdoğan, the company has been awarded government tenders worth 1.6 billion euros over the past five years; In order not to have to pay taxes in Turkey, it transferred almost 190 million euros to tax havens. What a coincidence,One day after the transfer, half of the amount was transferred to someone unknown as a "donation".
Cengiz Holding also emerged from Pandora's box.
In the Erdoğan era, it received tenders worth around 40 billion euros from the government and is listed in the World Bank's report as one of three companies to win the most public tenders worldwide.
Cengiz Holding also transferred its millions to tax havens.
And another company from the Erdoğan environment appeared in the Pandora Papers: Demirören Holding.
It turns out the company has brought tens of millions to the UK via tax havens and bought valuable real estate in London.
Not released for fifteen years
This holding company differs from the other companies that Erdoğan has made rich in one tricky point.
With loans of several hundred million euros from state banks, Erdoğan ensured that Demirören bought Turkey's largest media group.
After Demirören took over the newspapers and television stations that were formerly part of the Doğan group, they set about making propaganda for Erdoğan.
The new owner of the media group did not repay the loans of around 1.7 billion euros received from the state banks when they fell due, but instead bought luxury real estate in London.