CHP Chair Özgür Özel had positioned himself as the man ready to detonate a political thunderclap. He timed his announcement to the AKP’s anniversary, promising revelations that would mark a decisive “before and after” in Turkish politics. Speaking the day before, he threw down the gauntlet directly to President Erdoğan:
“Tomorrow at 12:00 — AKP, your anniversary gift arrives.
Mr. Tayyip, you always say ‘the biggest radish is in the saddlebag.’ This time I won’t keep it there. Wait for noon!”
Yet when noon came, the “radish” turned out far smaller than the hype — especially when measured against the scandal-laden imagery Özel himself had been cultivating for months.
The substance? Özel accused former AKP Central Executive Board member Mücahit Birinci of attempting to extort $2 million from detained businessman Murat Kapki in exchange for his release. Birinci allegedly presented Kapki with a fabricated 1.5-page confession implicating Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s inner circle in tender-rigging. Kapki refused, fired his AKP-linked lawyer, and lodged a formal complaint with the Tekirdağ Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
It is a serious charge, but it is also narrow — a single incident involving a single businessman and a mid-level political figure. That stands in stark contrast to the sweeping, salacious, and politically explosive picture Özel had painted earlier in the year.
The Cyprus-Sized Promise
In April, as News About Turkey reported, Özel unveiled the phrase “The radish is as big as Cyprus,” drawing on an idiom used to hint at an imminent scandal. The addition of “as big as Cyprus” supercharged the metaphor, evoking Northern Cyprus’s well-earned reputation in Turkish political culture as a hub for illicit gambling, money laundering, organized crime — and, crucially, whispered tales of immoral liaisons.
By invoking Cyprus, Özel was not just hinting at corruption. He was feeding public imagination with suggestions of compromising relationships involving escort women, same-sex encounters between influential men, and even allegations touching on minors — the sort of explosive material that, if documented, could devastate reputations and topple careers. These insinuations, paired with his claim that 45 scandalous recordings existed (five of them “missing” and allegedly filmed in luxury hotels in Northern Cyprus), implied that the very top tier of the AKP — potentially including figures close to President Erdoğan’s own family — was vulnerable.
It was high-stakes political brinkmanship: Erdoğan had recently warned that some individuals “won’t be able to look their families in the eye” once certain facts came to light. Özel’s Cyprus remark was widely read as a counterthreat — a signal that the opposition was prepared to match Erdoğan scandal for scandal.
A Small Target in a Big Game
Against that backdrop, the Birinci–Kapki allegation feels like a scaled-down skirmish in a war that Özel himself had framed as existential. Rather than pulling the trigger on Cyprus-linked kompromat — with its implied mix of political corruption, sexual misconduct, and criminal finance — he focused on a case that, while troubling, lacks the systemic reach or personal proximity to Erdoğan that many expected.
This gap between rhetoric and reality risks damaging Özel’s credibility. By overhyping his ammunition and then delivering a smaller shot, he may have given Erdoğan room to dismiss him as all talk. Worse still, by playing on Erdoğan’s preferred terrain — scandal politics and mutual threat — Özel risks muddying the opposition’s moral position, reducing it to a contest over who can trade in darker insinuations without blinking.
From Earthquake to Echo
There is no denying that the extortion allegation, if proven, would further tarnish the legitimacy of the İBB investigation and highlight deep rot in prosecutorial practices. But it is not the Cyprus-sized eruption Özel had been signaling — with its connotations of high-level vice, sexual impropriety, and underworld connections.
If Özel does possess the kind of material he once implied — tapes showing AKP insiders, possibly even figures tied to Erdoğan’s family, in compromising sexual or criminal situations — then holding it back in favor of incremental accusations risks letting the moment slip away. And if he does not, then his Cyprus metaphor will be remembered less as a warning shot and more as a case of political overreach.
For now, the mountain has stirred, but what emerged is not the promised Cyprus-sized scandal — no tapes, no top-tier exposé, no palace-level disgrace — just a mid-tier corruption claim. In a political climate where both sides flirt with the politics of exposure, that may be the most dangerous outcome of all: another chance for truth to be swallowed by spectacle.
By: News About Turkey (NAT)
