Yasar Topcu, a conservative member of parliament, was very fond of his waiter at Anadolu Kulubu, the exclusive club in Ankara for MPs and senior bureaucrats. When he became minister of communications last summer, Topcu decided to do his old friend a favour. He appointed Ali Cebeci to the board of Iller Bank, a large state bank whose function is to channel billions of lira in loans to Turkey's 3,200 municipalities. However, someone slipped the story to the media, a small scandal erupted and Cebeci was forced to give up his post. But Topcu did not give up. He drew up a decree nominating Cebeci special adviser to his own ministry. The decree was signed by all the relevant ministers, including the prime minister, but when it came before president Suleyman Demirel he refused to approve it.
While it is not possible to get Topcu to disclose his future strategy, it is a safe bet that some time in the not too distant future, his favourite waiter will end up drawing a salary from some state institution somewhere.
This story is only unusual in that Topcu did not get his way first time.