Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing criticism over the government’s lack of action when it comes to tackling illegal online gambling.
It follows a week of Turkish headlines being dominated by the arrest of Ahmed Faruk Karslı, the founder and CEO of Istanbul-based neobank app Papara.
Karslı was arrested by Police Intelligence on corruption charges, as Papara has been accused of knowingly allowing 26,000 accounts to facilitate illegal online betting transactions totalling approximately 12.9 billion Turkish lira (around €340m).
The Papara app was described as central to enabling illegal online gambling websites to launder money through 270 banks, which transferred funds to cryptocurrency wallets.
The Turkish Central Bank has imposed direct restrictions on Papara’s operations, including daily transaction limits. While the app remains accessible, users are currently unable to perform transactions. Papara accounts have been frozen by Turkey’s Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), pending the results of the police investigation.
Opposition parties have been quick to criticise President Erdogan and the Justice and Prosperity (AK) government of failing to impose controls on illegal gambling, in which criminal gangs are actively exploiting Turkish finance and compliance liabilities.
The scandal has drawn fierce criticism from Ali Babacan, leader of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), who accused the AK Party of both negligence and complicity in Turkey’s flourishing illegal gambling sector.
A former senior AK official and deputy prime minister under Erdoğan, Babacan left the ruling party in 2019, citing a collapse of democratic norms and economic integrity.
Addressing a party assembly, Babacan recounted testimonies of families devastated by illicit gambling and accused Erdoğan of personally licensing gambling platforms under a façade of regulation.
“There are platforms operating with the signatures of top officials,” he said. “This government speaks of fighting illegal gambling, while enabling it with the other hand.”
He warned that the Papara case is just the tip of the iceberg, describing how illegal operators openly target Turkish consumers via social media, bank partnerships, and mobile apps. “This shows how exposed Turkey is criminals aren’t even in hiding, they’re advertising.”
The scandal sharply contrasts with the pledge made by Erdoğan and senior AK officials at the start of 2025 to crack down on illegal gambling. In January, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya warned Turkish authorities to prepare for a nationwide enforcement to tackle illegal gambling,
However, critics now argue that those pledges have amounted to little more than political theatre. Babacan stated: “The state declared war on illegal gambling in words. But in reality, it licensed the platforms, ignored laundering through banks, and failed to protect its citizens.”
This regulatory failure is particularly damning for the AK Party, whose religious-conservative values oppose gambling as immoral. Opposition figures claim the party’s name Justice and Development is now starkly at odds with its governance.
The Papara scandal is erupting against a turbulent political backdrop. Erdoğan’s government faces growing resentment over its handling of mass protests in Istanbul, sparked by the controversial arrest of opposition mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu earlier this year.
Once seen as a reformist bulwark, the AK Party is now accused by critics of democratic backsliding, cronyism, and selective justice as its stumbles from scandal to scandal, reaching the lowest point in popularity in its 22-year tenure as the ruling party of Turkish politics – of which 14-years have been overseen by the command of President Erdogan.
Public anger is fuelling calls for snap elections, as opposition alliances including DEVA, the Felicity Party, and the Future Party rally around a common message of restoring rule of law. Together, they form the “New Path” bloc, seeking to present a unified front in the event of an early national vote.
“People are beginning to see the cracks,” Babacan said. “This is no longer just about gambling. It’s about the state turning away from its citizens while criminal networks thrive.”
AS concerns mount over Erdoğan’s ability to lead and speculation swirling over his bid for a constitutional workaround to extend his presidency beyond 2028 the gambling crisis has struck a deeper nerve.
The Papara scandal can be viewed as symbolic of how far the AK government has strayed from its founding values and how deeply the lines have blurred between legality and impunity. The scandal reflects a breakdown in enforcement, oversight, and institutional credibility, as political opposition chooses its camp to attack Erdoğan and AK government at a point of inflection for Turkish politics.
