Turkey: Image of armed men appear in ad during opposition leader's interview

The leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) reacted to the appearance of a controversial military company's commercial in Turkish media TV 100 during broadcast of an interview with him.

The commercial appeared as the interview by journalist Ugur Dundar with CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu was telecast on Saturday.

The short commercial, appearing on the bottom of the screen, showed the logo of the military consultancy and training company SADAT and an image of armed and masked men in camouflage outfits.

Kilicdaroglu had earlier targeted SADAT in May 2022 saying that it is a paramilitary organization allied with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and constitutes a threat to election security.

Kilicdaroglu had said:

"They provide unconventional warfare training, namely sabotage, raid, ambush, assassination and terror (...) This is a company that trains terrorists."

A 2020 report by the US Department of Defense states that "Sadat maintains supervision and payment of the estimated 5,000 pro-GNA Syrian fighters in Libya, according to US Africa Command."

In reaction to the appearance of the commercial, Kilicdaroglu said on Twitter:

"You half witted paramilitary scraps, who do you think you are threatening?"

SADAT's boss sardonically said that they paid only 1,500 TL (approximately $80) for a great work of PR.

A photo showing TV 100's boss Necat Gulseven with Turkey's biggest mafia boss Alaattin Cakici was highlighted by +Gercek after the broadcast of the SADAT commercial.

The photo had been posted on Twitter in November 2020 by Cakici himself, who said in his attached note:

"Alaattin Cakici with friends at a dinner in Four Seasons Hotel. Necat Gulseren, Cihan Cakici, Tevfik Karaaslan, Veysi Nazlican." [Gulseven's name probably mis-spelt by Cakici]

Veysi Nazlican was among the 117 people arrested in July 2022 on suspicion of being part of the crime network Sarals that was listed by a 2021 police report as the fourth biggest mafia group in Turkey.