Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened a journalist at one of the country's daily newspapers, saying he will pay the "highest price" after the paper published an exclusive report purporting to show lorries belonging to the Turkish intelligence agency, carrying weapons to Syria.
The Cumhuriyet newspaper published a video on Friday showing what appear to be gendarmerie and police officers inspecting cargo on the back of three trucks belonging to Turkey's state intelligence agency (MIT). This follows a Reuters story last month which included witnesses reporting that they have seen MIT trucks delivering arms to Islamist-held areas in Syria in 2013 and 2014. Cumhuriyet claim that their evidence dates back to 2014.
The allegations angered Erdoğan who told Turkey's public broadcaster TRT that the newspaper report was "espionage" and that he would "not let this go".
Turkey's Journalists Association has already condemned Erdoğan's words, releasing a statement today entitled "The president's task should not be to threaten journalists". Six days before the Turkish president's threat against Cumhuriyet, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers urged the government to respect the importance of pluralism in the media.
Erdoğan said that state trucks delivering aid to Turkmen in Syria were indeed stopped on the same day that the Cumhuriyet video purports their video was shot, however he says the trucks were not searched legitimately. Instead he blames the reports on political adversary Muhammed Fethullah Gülen with whom he has an ongoing political feud.
In January the Turkish authorities carried out raids across the country against dozens of suspected Gülen supporters, after Erdoğan's inner circle was implicated in a corruption scandal based on tapped private conversations.
With the parliamentary elections happening this Sunday, Erdoğan has also clashed with Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), after Kılıçdaroğlu criticised the lavishness of Erdoğan's new presidential palace.
Over the weekend the opposition politician took a swipe at the president's Mercedes cars and the luxury of his state residence during a rally in İzmir.
"Gentlemen in Ankara, palaces have been built for you, planes bought, Mercedes cars purchased ... golden seats have been bought, that's how you use the toilet," Kılıçdaroğlu said, addressing the government.
Erdoğan has since taken the issue to heart, inviting Kılıçdaroğlu on a tour of the palace to check for himself if the 1,000-room residence has any golden toilet seats.
"I wonder if he will be able to find such a golden toilet seat in any of these washrooms," Erdoğan told TRT on Sunday evening. "If he finds it, I will resign from the presidency."
The Ak Saray palace opened its doors to Erdoğan in August after he won the country's first ever popular presidential elections. The building is bigger than the White House, Kremlin and even Versailles. Erdoğan is its first occupant.
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