Turkish PM's advisor denies corruption claims

LONDON

Allegations of corruption and interference into the judiciary against Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party are not true, the Turkish prime minister’s chief advisor has told British members of parliament in the U.K.

Etyen Mahcupyan told a roundtable meeting at the UK's House of Commons on Friday that it would not have been possible for the AK Party to have repeatedly won elections in the country if allegations against it were true.

At the meeting entitled; "Understanding Change: The AK Party Period in Turkey," he said: "We live in a very unstable region, but the AK Party has managed to keep Turkey in a stable position. Despite all the accusations the government has been very successful.

"If such allegations were true, we would see the results -- however, the government has repeatedly won elections."

'Beneficial practices'

Mahcupyan said only the AK Party had transformed Turkey.

He said: "I am not saying that AK Party has not been making any mistakes; in fact, they have made mistakes, but they still get votes from citizens.

"The result shows that something is very solid, politically."

"The AK Party does good things and bad things but, when we count AK Party actions, its beneficial practices are more than its bad actions."

Armenian allegations

Referring to the 1915 Armenian incidents in the Ottoman Empire, he said: "I feel myself Ottoman rather than Armenian. I'm not a nationalist."

During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire approved a deportation law for Armenians amid their uprising, with the help of the invading Russian army.

As a result, an unknown number of people died in civil strife.

Turkey's official position against allegations of "genocide" is that it acknowledges past experiences were a great tragedy and that both parties suffered heavy casualties, including hundreds of Muslim Turks.

Turkey agrees that there were Armenian casualties during World War I, but that it is impossible to define these incidents as "genocide."