I was surprised when I learned what I was accused of: Abdurrahman Tutdere explains why he was detained

Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere, who was placed under house arrest after being detained on July 5 and suspended from duty by the Ministry of Interior on July 10, was reinstated yesterday (August 5, 2025). 

Tutdere, whose house arrest was also lifted, was a guest on the "Rota" program hosted by Kürşad Oğuz on Halk TV. Tutdere made notable statements regarding what he experienced from July 5 to August 5 and the details contained in the case file.

Tutdere made striking statements regarding the detention, house arrest, and reinstatement process. Stating that he did not know what he was detained for until his statement was taken, Tutdere noted that he was very surprised when he learned what he was accused of.

He stated that the investigation in Adıyaman was not initiated based on the testimony of Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who is alleged to be a criminal organization leader but was released after benefiting from effective remorse, but rather on the statement of a witness who worked at Aktaş's company.

"WE CUT OFF OUR CONTACT"

Pointing out that an agreement was made by the AKP administration in 2018 with the Bilginay firm, which handled İhsan Aktaş's cleaning and vehicle rental business, for the cleaning services of Adıyaman Municipality, Tutdere said, "In the work we did as soon as we arrived, we increased our vehicle capacity and cut off all our contact with the firm when its contract expired, with four months left until the tender ended. We terminated their employment and started collecting our own trash with our own capacity and our own vehicles. In other words, this process against us began with the statement of an individual who claimed to work for a firm whose contract we terminated and with which we cut off all contact with the municipality."

TUTDERE EXPLAINED THE REASON FOR HIS DETENTION

Tutdere also explained the accusation for which he was detained.

Stating that he had also worked as a lawyer for years, Tutdere said, "With my legal identity and as a citizen, let me say this: the witness statement says exactly this: 'After Adıyaman Municipality passed from the AK Party to the CHP, our 24 million [lira] payment accrued. I went to the mayor to get this. The mayor directed me to his deputy.' That is the entire allegation. And we learned this when we went to give our statement at the police station. Until then, believe me, we didn't even know what we were accused of or why we were detained," he said.

"HE IS NOT A PERSON WE KNOW"

In the continuation of his statement, Tutdere stated that the witness who caused his detention had no accrued receivables after they cut off contact when the contract ended, did not visit the municipality, and was not someone they knew.

Tutdere said the following in his statement:

"Later, when these were asked to us at the police station, we presented the documents we received, which show that all these allegations are baseless, that we actually had no business or transactions left with this firm, that we terminated their employment, and [we presented] our financial accounts during the prosecution stage. In fact, there is no accrued payment due to us as mentioned in the witness's statement. Just as they received their regular payments during the AKP period, the period before me, I started my duty on April 4, they received their payment on April 15, they received it in May, June, July, and the work was already finished in September. Therefore, there is no accrued receivable. He did not visit us, and he is not a person we know."