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Turkey president's son has settled in Italy with his family, says Cumhuriyet daily - PHOTO

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06 October 2015 12:15 (UTC +04:00)

President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan's younger son Bilal ErdoÄŸan, who was one of the prime suspects in Turkey's largest corruption case ever which was revealed on Dec. 17-25, 2013, has settled in the city of Bologna in Italy, along with his wife and children following the June 7 parliamentary election in which the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that President ErdoÄŸan founded lost its majority in Parliament, Today’s Zaman reported.

According to the Cumhuriyet daily, ErdoÄŸan's son moved to Italy following the election to continue his Ph.D. education at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna, where he suspended study years ago, and has enrolled his children in a school there. Bilal ErdoÄŸan also reportedly asked for security guards from the Italian government.

Citing confidential sources, the newspaper said Bilal ErdoÄŸan made the decision to leave the country and register in the school that he started in 2007 following the June election after the AK Party failed to secure enough seats in Parliament to form a single-party government. The result also undermined ErdoÄŸan's goal of gaining 400 AK Party deputies in Parliament and switch the country to a presidential system that would increase his powers.

An official from the school's administration refused to answer Cumhuriyet's questions, saying it cannot disclose information about its students. However, Cumhuriyet says Bilal ErdoÄŸan has already completed his courses for the Ph.D. and is only required to write his thesis, a process which does not require him to be at the school permanently but still enables him to secure residential permission for two years.