AKP Watch September 3rd, 2007
Glenn Simpson of Wall Street Journal revealed the connection between Qadi and Erdoğan on his article called “Well Connected, A Saudi Mogul Skirts Sanctions”.
Glenn Simpson is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering money laundering and other financial crime, including terrorist financing, tax evasion and corporate misconduct. Below the highlights from Simpson’s article:
Erdoğan: I trust him the same way I trust my father
“Yassin Qadi is a well-known multimillionaire, founder of a large supermarket chain here [in Turkey] and a close friend of the Turkish premier. “I trust him the same way I trust my father,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on national television last year.”
According UN and US Treasury: A Major Financier of Islamic Terrorism
“But the Saudi businessman also is a major financier of Islamic terrorism with close business associates who are members of al Qaeda, according to the U.S. Treasury and the United Nations Security Council. At Washington’s request, the Security Council ordered Mr. Qadi’s assets frozen a few weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.”
“The asset freeze has largely crippled Mr. Qadi’s international business empire. But previously undisclosed records show he has managed to free up millions of dollars of holdings in Turkey, in apparent violation of the Security Council sanctions — and without incurring punishment by Turkish authorities.”
“Mr. Qadi’s friendship with the prime minister also plays into the growing debate in Turkey over the role of Islam in a secular society. Turkey’s Parliament for the first time yesterday elected a politician with an Islamist background, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, to the presidency. Immediately after being sworn in, Mr. Gul pledged impartiality, saying, “Secularism — one of the main principles of our republic — is a precondition for social peace.” But the development nonetheless has heightened concern about the direction this pivotal nation, poised between East and West, is taking.”
Erdogan government intervened in Turkish courts
“U.S. diplomats lodged strong objections last year when the Erdogan government intervened in Turkish courts to try to lift the freeze on Mr. Qadi’s Turkish assets, according to U.S. officials. The Turkish government reversed course.”
Erdoğan is far less interested in combating terrorism
“That Erdogan personally vouches for this man…raises the possibility that the prime minister of Turkey is far less interested in combating terrorism than he says,” said former Defense Department aide Michael Rubin, a conservative critic of the Turkish government who has close ties to top officials in the Bush administration.”
Top Prosecutors of the case was recently fired by Erdoğan
“Two reports by Turkey’s financial police allege potential money-laundering and other possible crimes by Mr. Qadi and unnamed associates. But Turkish prosecutors declined to bring criminal cases in both 2004 and 2006, citing a lack of evidence. Mr. Erdogan’s political opponents say the probes were quashed by the Finance Ministry. The top officer on the case was recently fired. According to the government, he abused his authority to investigate top politicians.”
AK Party’s Chief Adviser Cuneyt Zapsu supported Al Qaeda linked Islamic Charity
“Mr. Zapsu, who in 2001 helped Mr. Erdogan found the Justice and Development Party, also supported an Islamic charity Mr. Qadi founded that is at the center of the U.S. and Security Council decision to freeze the Saudi businessman’s assets. A Turkish financial-police report seen by The Wall Street Journal found that in the 1990s, Mr. Zapsu and his mother gave $300,000 to Mr. Qadi’s Muwafaq charity, which U.S. officials labeled a front for al Qaeda shortly after 9/11.”
“Central Intelligence Agency reports say Muwafaq, now defunct, specialized in purchasing and smuggling arms for Islamic radicals. The U.S. government’s special commission on the Sept. 11, 2001, attack and law-enforcement agencies have cited Saudi-backed Islamic charities as a primary source of funding for al Qaeda.”
“Mr. Zapsu also has business ties to two Islamic banks funded with Saudi capital — Dallah Al Baraka and Dar Al Mal Al Islam — that were accused of supporting al Qaeda in civil suits filed by families of Sept. 11 victims in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Both defendants adamantly deny the allegations, and the court dismissed claims against Al Baraka.”
Charitable Terrorist
“Some of Mr. Qadi’s dealings in Turkey are recounted in a 2006 book, “Charitable Terrorist,” by Nedim Sener. Mr. Qadi has filed a defamation suit in an Istanbul court against Mr. Sener, who in the Turkish daily Milliyet also wrote of a real-estate deal involving Mr. Qadi that may also violate the Security Council sanctions. The sanctions, legally binding on U.N. member states, ban any large financial transactions or international travel by the roughly 350 individuals designated as terrorists or their sponsors.”
As news agencies publish pictures of eight captured Turkish soldiers, AK Party issued an executive order to cease all public broadcasting regarding recent terrorist attacks in southeastern Turkey.
Switzerland authorities investigating a possible terror finance case for 
