BREAKING NEWS... Halit Ergenç and Dolunay Soysert summoned to testify

Ayşe Barım, founder and partner of ID İletişim, is in the spotlight over allegations that she participated in the Gezi Park protests and directed the artists she manages to join the events. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an ex officio investigation into Barım following the allegations that appeared in the press.

As part of the investigation, actors Dolunay Soysert and Halit Ergenç were also summoned to testify. Previously, within the scope of the same investigation, actor Deniz Işın had provided a statement as a 'victim,' while Nedim Saban and Serenay Sarıkaya had testified as 'witnesses.'

GÜNSÜR AND KOCAOĞLU ALSO AT THE COURTHOUSE

It has been learned that following Halit Ergenç and Dolunay Soysert, actors Mehmet Günsür and Rıza Kocaoğlu also arrived at the courthouse.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST BARIM

The prosecutor's office alleges that during the Gezi Park protests, Ayşe Barım maintained intense communication with figures such as Osman Kavala, Çiğdem Utku Mater, and Mehmet Ali Alabora, and encouraged the artists she managed to participate in the events in 2013. It was also claimed that Barım herself personally participated in these protests.

Barım had previously been in the news over allegations that she created a monopoly in the sector and excluded actors who opposed her. Following these allegations, the prosecutor's office had launched an ex officio investigation and imposed a travel ban on Barım.

Actors Dolunay Soysert and Halit Ergenç were summoned to testify as part of the investigation conducted into ID İletişim founder and partner Ayşe Barım.

Barım, who manages many famous actors, had been in the news over allegations that she caused a monopoly in the sector and pushed actors who opposed her out of the market.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had taken action by accepting the posts and allegations regarding Barım as a tip-off. In this context, an ex officio investigation was launched and a travel ban was imposed on Barım.

In the investigation, actor Deniz Işın had provided a statement as a 'victim,' while actors Nedim Saban and Serenay Sarıkaya had testified as 'witnesses.'

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an ex officio investigation today due to allegations in the written and visual press that Ayşe Barım participated in the Gezi Park protests.

In the aforementioned investigation, actors Soysert and Ergenç were also summoned to testify.

The prosecutor's office had claimed that Barım had intense communication regarding the events with Gezi Park trial defendants Osman Kavala, Çiğdem Utku Mater, and Mehmet Ali Alabora, that she directed the artists she managed to participate in the events in 2013, the start date of the Gezi Park protests, and that she herself participated in the events with these actors.

WHAT WERE THE ALLEGATIONS?

TV100 columnist Fuat Uğur wrote in his September 2024 column that the Competition Authority had conducted raids on some production companies and agencies on the grounds of 'cartelization and abuse of their dominant position in the market.'

In the same article, Uğur alleged that a female manager 'presented one of her female actors as if she were in a relationship with a famous gay singer and received 5 million dollars from the singer's businessman lover.'

In the allegations that emerged on social media, it was claimed that the female manager in question was ID İletişim founding partner Ayşe Barım and the female actor was Serenay Sarıkaya.

On the other hand, the Competition Board found the information and documents obtained as a result of its investigation into whether casting agencies violated the 'Law on the Protection of Competition' to be sufficient and opened an investigation into 21 companies. ID İletişim was among these companies.

ID İletişim had denied the allegations.