Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has angrily condemned as fabricated an audio recording that appears to show him talking to his son about hiding large sums of money.
He said the recording, allegedly tapped and then posted on social media, was a "treacherous attack".
It appears to reveal Mr Erdogan asking his son Bilal to dispose of millions of euros in cash from a house.
Anti-government protests erupted in Istanbul following the disclosures.
Turkey's main opposition party, Republican People's Party (CHP), has denounced the recordings and demanded the prime minister's resignation.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Istanbul's Kadikoy district on Tuesday chanting "Tayyip Erdogan the thief". They were later dispersed by riot police using tear gas and water cannon.
The BBC's James Reynolds says householders in anti-government neighbourhoods were heard banging pots and pans as they did during the Gezi Park protests of May and June last year.
The recordings, which could not be independently verified, were said to be of four conversations dating back to 17 December, when the sons of three ministers and business allies of the prime minister were detained in a high-level corruption investigation.
Correspondents say that the inquiry has presented a major challenge to Mr Erdogan's 11 years in power ahead of key local elections in March.
Cagil Kasapoglu from BBC Turkish says that, interestingly, neither the prime minister nor his party's spokespeople have denied that the voices on the recording belong to Erdogan and his son.
Their statement so far is that their voices were "montaged" to implicate them, our correspondent says.
During the conversation, a voice can be heard discussing how to reduce the funds to "zero" by distributing them among several businessmen.
At one point, the second voice says some 30 million euros ($40m/£24m) remains to be disposed of.
Mr Erdogan's office issued a statement late on Monday night saying the release of the recordings was part of a sustained campaign to unseat him.
"Those who created this dirty conspiracy targeting the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey will be brought to account within the law," it said.
No comments:
Post a Comment