They even seized the piggy bank of Murat Ongun's son: And asked his daughter, 'Are your earrings gold?'

In the second phase of the investigation conducted into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), the detention of Gözdem Ongun, wife of İBB Press Advisor Murat Ongun, has caused a stir. OdaTV columnist Soner Yalçın brought the events that took place in the home following this detention to his column.

According to Yalçın, the police searched Gözdem Ongun's home during the detention process. At that time, the Ongun couple's children, 15-year-old Koray and 19-year-old Lal Ongun, were in the house along with their aunt and uncle.

KORAY'S PIGGY BANK WAS SEIZED

One of the most striking details in Yalçın's article was that the police seized the few thousand liras in 15-year-old Koray Ongun's piggy bank. It was stated that this situation came to light when Koray told his friend, "I don't have any money, I couldn't come." Yalçın criticized this incident by saying, "What is this about seizing a child's money from his piggy bank?"

THE 'IS IT GOLD?' QUESTION REGARDING LAL'S EARRING

Another striking incident was what 19-year-old Lal Ongun experienced. According to the article, the police intervened with the earrings in Lal's ears during the search and questioned her, saying, "Is it gold? Take it off and let me see." Lal had to state that the earrings were not gold and were her mother Gözdem Ongun's own design.

SONER YALÇIN: WHY ARE YOU TARGETING THE CHILDREN?

In his article, Soner Yalçın reacted harshly to these practices. Emphasizing that children should be protected during such a process, Yalçın asked, "A detention process may occur, but why are you victimizing the children? What were Koray and Lal accused of to be subjected to such treatment?"

The relevant sections from Soner Yalçın's article titled 'Koray and Lal' are as follows;

''Saturday…

When I learned the news that Gözdem - Murat Ongun's wife - was also detained in the second operation targeting the İBB, I went to their house. There were two children in the house, what were they doing? What would two children do all alone after their father, and then their mother, were detained in a police raid conducted at 06:00 in the morning again?

Thank God their aunt and uncle were in the house…

I was stunned when I heard what happened during the search in the house:

Koray Ongun is 15 years old. He is a child of his own kind. So much so that; he read the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, and decided that the one with the deepest meaning was the Quran, becoming a believer who tries not to miss Friday prayers! For example, we learned from him that the decorations of the Barbaros Hayrettin Mosque in Levent resemble the decorations of the Süleymaniye Mosque...

While the police were searching Koray's room, they were very pleased with what they found; they took the 3-5 thousand liras sent by his grandmother inside Koray's cardboard piggy bank!

I found out about this when a school friend's mother invited Koray to their house, and Koray said, "how will I go, I have no money at all"…

What is this about seizing the money in a child's piggy bank? I don't think the prosecutors are aware of this at all.

It didn't end there. The police's attention was drawn to 19-year-old Lal Ongun's earrings, and they said, "is it gold? Take it off and let me see"! The poor girl said, "it's a design my mother made, it's not gold," with a trembling voice…

If it were gold, would Lal have been detained too?

AND GÖZDEM ONGUN

I attended Murat Ongun and Gözdem Ongun's engagement and wedding ceremonies. They are my close friends...

Like Murat, Gözdem was my colleague. She came to Star TV as an intern.

We used to tease her; what was this rich, beautiful girl doing in journalism, a "drudgery profession," whose father owned Turkey's first private airline company, who was a German citizen, and who had studied at a university in the USA and spoke four languages?

She used to do culture and arts news because she was very curious. She also painted and designed jewelry…

Then she quit journalism; her hobby, jewelry design, became her profession. I think she has been doing this for ten or twelve years, she opened a place in Kadıköy. She even used our hands and arms as models for men's jewelry designs!

When they were living in the Ulus neighborhood, when the landlord raised the rent exorbitantly, they moved out without saying, "do you know who we are?" Today, their living in the Acarlar neighborhood is being talked about a lot in the media. They are renting the bottom two floors of a four-story house. The reason they chose this place was that Gözdem needed a jewelry workshop…

Anyway, I did not go into the investigation file, which has a confidentiality order, and I will not. The truth has a habit of coming out sooner or later…

However. I especially advise my colleagues; do not repeat what the 1960s press wrote:

This public read for months in newspapers and magazines, and listened on the radio, to lies that ended in acquittal such as the "dog case," "baby case," "embezzlement case," and "mill case" on Yassıada! Do not let them experience the same thing…

To summarize:

I hope Gözdem Ongun returns home immediately. Because Lal Ongun, who is studying abroad on a scholarship, says, "I cannot leave my father and mother in prison." Only her mother can convince her…''