Turkey's PM Erdogan says recordings 'treacherous attack'

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday voice recordings purportedly of him telling his son to dispose of large sums of money on the day news broke of a graft inquiry were a "treacherous attack" on his office.
   
In a speech to his ruling AK Party deputies in parliament, Erdogan also said the recordings, which appeared on YouTube late on Monday, were a "shameless montage," suggesting they were faked composites of his voice and that of his son Bilal.

Earlier, an opposition party leader called on Turkey's prosecutors to launch an investigation into PM Erdogan for alleged corruption, a day after the disclosure of audio recordings purportedly of him ordering his son to dispose of vast amounts of cash amid a graft probe.
     
Erdogan met with Turkey's intelligence chief shortly after voice recordings of two people  alleged to be Erdogan and his son  discussing means of getting rid of large amounts of money from a home, circulated on the Internet. A statement issued by Erdogan's office later said the tapes were immorally fabricated and that legal action would be taken against the perpetrators.
     
Devlet Bahceli, the leader of Turkey's far-right Nationalist Action Party, on Tuesday called the recordings "mind-blowing" and urged prosecutors and other judicial bodies to intervene.
     
He said Erdogan should "not even think about" escaping blame by claiming the tapes were edited.
     
Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, held an emergency meeting late on Monday and called on Erdogan to resign, saying the government had lost its legitimacy.     
     
The Associated Press cannot authenticate the audio recordings which reportedly took place on Dec. 17, as three Cabinet ministers' sons were detained in the police corruption and bribery probe.
     
Erdogan insists that the corruption probe targeting people close to him is a conspiracy against his government before local elections in March and a presidential election in August.
     
The government says the investigations were orchestrated by followers of a moderate Islamic movement led by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who have allegedly infiltrated Turkey's police and judiciary.


AP/REUTERS