It is clear that there is an international slander campaign, which also has affiliates in Turkey, against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
They simply want to erode Erdoğan's popularity and push him out of office. They have tried everything they can, staging city revolts, arranging fake corruption cases and even resorting to staging a coup using the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), and yet they have failed badly. Instead of eroding Erdoğan's popularity, they have actually consolidated the people's support for the head of state.
Now they are launching a well-planned, two pronged slander campaign at home and abroad with the Reza Zarrab case in New York and baseless accusations from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
In New York, it is clear FETÖ has hijacked the American justice system with the Zarrab case and they are trying to use it to create a smear campaign that they hope will eventually harm Erdoğan. The judge, the prosecutor and even the so-called expert witness have proven affiliations to FETÖ. It will be a lopsided trial where the prosecution, with blessings from the judge, will be able to present so-called doctored documents that would have been impermissible in any other court in the U.S.
The prosecutor will eventually try to accuse Turkish government officials of wrongdoing and breaking American law by violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. FETÖ is trying to stage a show to embarrass Erdoğan. What is sad is that the U.S. administration will just watch as their justice system is butchered in New York, as certain Americans will try to use the court ruling to defame the Turkish government and deal a blow to Turkey.
On the home front, the New York court case coincides with absurd revelations from Kılıçdaroğlu, who told a wildly cheering crowd of supporters at a CHP parliamentary group meeting he has evidence that people close to Erdoğan had been involved in shady offshore bank transactions with a company on the Isle of Man. Kılıçdaroğlu dangled some paper while making his charges, saying it is proof of those transactions. Yet after his speech, he refused to provide copies of the documents to the press. He also did not present these documents to state prosecutors to help them launch a case.
Additionally, CHP spokesmen did not provide the documents to the press, saying that Kılıçdaroğlu had not filed any criminal charges. So why all the noise?
The CHP apparently wants to use these meaningless revelations from Kılıçdaroğlu to launch a parliamentary investigation that will create a fruitless debate in the chamber, which will only make noise and nothing else. The idea is to create the image, through slander, that Erdoğan's relatives and people close to him are involved in shady deals.
Kılıçdaroğlu is clearly on the wrong path, unable to prove anything, but he is trying to keep up the mystery of these documents. It is clear he is being manipulated from the outside. Hence, slander at home, slander in the world.
What people behind these campaigns do not understand is that the Turkish people are not prone to such slander; such plots staged by international groups, and will only rally behind Erdoğan even stronger.