British Daily Telegraph apologizes to PM Erdogan

Britain's Daily Telegraph yesterday apologized to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a story last fall claiming that Iran had made campaign contributions to Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). "We wrongly stated [in a Sept. 14, 2010 article] that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey had 'improperly negotiated and accepted a donation in the sum of $25 million to his AK Party from Iran to further the party's campaign in a forthcoming general election'," the paper admitted. "We now accept that we were misinformed and the allegation was untrue. Neither Prime Minister Erdogan nor his party has negotiated any such deal or accepted any donation of any kind from Iran. We apologize to Prime Minister Erdogan." When the story broke, a furious Erdogan called it "contemptible slander" and vowed to take legal action. Sources said the apology might bring Erdogan's case against the paper to an end.