Close friend of Erdogan’s becomes his enemy

For more than 40 years, Ali Yesildag and his two brothers had maintained close family and professional ties with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In 2023, however, and while his relationship with both his brothers and the Turkish president had already broken down, he publicly denounced Erdogan - via a YouTube video - for hundreds of millions of dollars in corruption.

His public denunciations caused political turmoil in the neighboring country, with opposition parties calling for clarification. "There is an allegation that the president of the country took $1 billion and pocketed it. Explain to the people that such an allegation is not true," the leader of Turkey's opposition Iyi (Good) Party, Meral Aksener, had said - indicatively.

In mid-November 2023, the 54-year-old businessman was spotted by Greek border guards in a rural area of Feres, in...