İlhan Cihaner responds to Sezgin Baran Korkmaz's 'FETO exchange' allegations: 'The attorney fee...'

Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, who was released in August 2023 in the United States where he was detained on money laundering charges, was a guest on Fatih Altayli's YouTube channel in recent days.

During the nearly 3-hour program, Korkmaz responded to allegations against him and made very serious accusations regarding a 'FETO exchange'.

Stating that former Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor and CHP MP İlhan Cihaner served as the attorney for Yalcin Ayasli in a FETO case, Korkmaz said, "The prosecutor's office will look at how the non-prosecution decision was obtained for the file from the letter that came from Bakirkoy regarding FETO. That is where the 2 million dollars lies. Look at Mustafa Ateş's bank accounts. Mustafa Ateş and his partner İlhan Cihaner... While Cihaner used to go door-to-door asking people to 'buy me raki and fish,' now he is the one buying for them. I am aware of everything. My intelligence is extensive. Would I let them go... My lawyer friend has 78 pages of their internal WhatsApp correspondence. These are correspondences that will ensure they do not get out of prison for 25 years..." he said.

"SOMEONE WHO WAS REMOVED FROM THE COURT OF CASSATION MEMBERSHIP. CAN YOU SEE THE HORROR OF THE SITUATION?"

Altayli's "Cihaner is probably the person furthest from FETO in Turkey" Following his remarks, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz recalled WhatsApp correspondence sent by Yalcin Ayasli to attorney Burhan Asaf Safak. The message sent by Ayasli to Burhan Asaf Safak contained the following statements:

"Dear Burhan, Attorney Mustafa Ateş came back with a figure like 2 million to handle the prosecutor's file. I told him that such a thing is impossible; Turkey has become a land of hungry wolves. In my opinion, it has no merit."

Stating that Mustafa Ateş is İlhan Cihaner's office partner, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz said, "He is someone who was detained for 3 months due to FETO and was dismissed from his position as a Supreme Court member. Can you see the horror of the situation?" he had said.

"DID HE MEET AND DINE WITH THE EXPERT WITNESS OF THE 120 MILLION DOLLAR FILE?"

Following the program, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz made a new allegation regarding Cihaner on the social media platform X yesterday. In his post, Korkmaz asked Cihaner, "Did you meet and dine with the expert witness in the 120 million dollar file along with your partner, attorney Mustafa Ateş?" Korkmaz also alleged that another person who was present at the dinner with Cihaner was a judge.

Cihaner responded to the allegations in a statement he made under six headings on his social media account.

Cihaner stated, "I did not intend to respond to the easily refutable allegations made about me in the program in question. Because the place where cases are heard is the courts. Especially when complex legal cases are 'tried in social media courts,' it often leads to misleading results and is contrary to the ethical rules of the legal profession. However, I observed that the allegations made in the program caused confusion among people who value me, even if only slightly. While the agenda was focused on the Narin case, which deeply wounded us all, I did not find it appropriate to make a statement during the past period. I had also considered appearing on Mr. Altaylı's program to respond. However, I believe that making a statement in this medium will also be useful." he said.

"THE JUDICIARY WILL MAKE THE FINAL DECISION"

Cihaner said the following regarding Korkmaz's 'FETÖ exchange' allegation:

"If this allegation had not been made, I might not have addressed what was said. The term 'FETÖ Exchange' entered our agenda as follows: First, fabricated news is published about a person, and an investigation is opened—or the threat of an investigation is presented—through fake complaints or collaborative public officials. Later, under the pretext that they will be saved from this investigation, their assets are seized. However, in the incident that is the subject of the allegation, the person who made the complaint is the individual who participated in Altaylı's program. In other words, the prosecutor's office did not open an investigation ex officio as he claimed in the program. (The date of the complaint is July 6, 2017, and contrary to what he described in the program, he even gave a statement to the prosecutor's office as a complainant.)"

Prior to this, in 2016, Lev Aslan Dermen (Levon Thermeciyan), the partner of the claimant, made statements that they were planning to take over an airline company in Turkey and were waiting for an opportunity. Simultaneously, news articles began to appear in newspapers slandering my client, the company's credibility was damaged, and the contracts it had made began to be terminated. At this stage, the claimant, who appeared by claiming that he would invest in BoraJet, took over BoraJet in exchange for future profits and shares from a potential sale, but without paying any price. However, a short time later, using some debts as an excuse, he began to seize my client's personal and family assets through liens and foreclosure sales. Our involvement in the files occurred long after these events, following the power of attorney we received in January 2021. The legal case that is the subject of the program is related to this and has many technical details. It is still being heard at the Istanbul Commercial Court.

"NOT EVEN AN AFFILIATION COULD BE DETECTED AS A RESULT OF A FOUR-YEAR INVESTIGATION"

The claimant specifically mentions the company's CFO, alleging that the non-prosecution decision issued was incomplete. However, the non-prosecution decision not only includes this person's name but also notes that their statement was taken and the situation was analyzed in detail. The investigation was launched in 2017; phones, including those of the client's lawyers, were tapped, and pool queries, Bylock queries, and financial records were examined. As a result, after a four-year investigation into all suspects, including the client and their CFO, no affiliation could be established, and a non-prosecution decision was issued on 12.07.2021, as it should have been.

Now, is it not a 'FETÖ stock market method' to file a complaint with fabricated and absurd justifications regarding FETÖ, paralyze a company and its owners, and then acquire the company for a pittance or for free, and on top of that, try to seize personal assets? And who did this? Naturally, the claimant himself did. Furthermore, applying the method we call the 'FETÖ stock market' requires 'collaborators/supporters' in the security bureaucracy, politics, and the judiciary. The claimant himself mentioned in the program that he had engaged in dialogue with people whose names he did not want to disclose, ranging from the President to ministers, to resolve his legal problems. Aside from the fact that I have no such relationships, I am politically at odds with all of them. We, as lawyers, have pursued a dispute for which we were approached for legal assistance and where we believed we could achieve a legal result. The judiciary will have the final say.

"PORTRAYING THE ATTORNEY FEE AS IF IT WERE SOMETHING ILLICIT..."

Emphasizing that, by law, lawyers cannot as a rule follow cases for free, Cihaner stated the following:

"At the very least, they must comply with the Minimum Wage Tariff. (In exceptional cases, they may work 'pro bono'.) The Attorneyship Law states: 'A certain percentage of the value of the case or the amount to be adjudicated, not exceeding twenty-five percent, may be agreed upon as an attorney fee.' The Ankara Bar Association's minimum wage tariff sets the lower limit for debt and compensation cases as '16% of the case value, not being less than 36,450 TL.' Provided they do not violate these lower limits, lawyers freely determine their own compensation for their labor and attorney fees. Portraying an attorney fee determined with the consent of the clients as if it were something criminal or illicit can only be dirty disinformation aimed at creating suspicion in people's minds."

Stating that the use of WhatsApp correspondence between the client and a previous lawyer regarding the attorney fee in this manner is, first and foremost, a crime, Cihaner said, "Attorney-client correspondence cannot be disclosed without the client's consent. We are not a party to these correspondences, the accuracy of which we do not know. The client is making an assessment with their previous lawyer. It is also evident from those correspondences that an agreement was not reached on the amount in question. Those who are interested will remember that a fuss was made about 5 million dollars some time ago as well. I have never had any effort to find money. Especially after July 15 and in many 'popular cases,' I have rejected very large figures with nine or ten zeros. I am writing these because the claimant, who is quite 'skilled' at finding money, is propagating the requirements of the legal profession and labor as if they were something criminal and dirty. For example, the fee received by Mark Geragos, the lawyer for the claimant and the mafia, whom the claimant mentions with pride, does not concern us."

"I cannot take an ethics lesson from a figure who befriends Susurluk fugitives and provides free clothing to a high-ranking judicial member in a critical position."

"The claimant alleges in several places in his long speech, which is full of abstract and nonsensical claims, that I did not act ethically," Cihaner said, continuing as follows:

"First of all, I cannot take an ethics lesson from a figure who is cozy with Armenian and Mormon mafias convicted of money laundering, who 'chases money,' who is intertwined with dark figures from Turkey and the US (like a CIA Director!), who builds friendships with the godfathers of capital and imperialism and those who fled Susurluk, and who gifts free clothes to a high-ranking member of the judiciary in a critical position. We have no friendship or social relationship with any member of the judiciary involved in the judicial processes of these cases, nor is there any dialogue that exceeds professional boundaries. Voicing this allegation is a scam intended to put pressure on the judges and prosecutors who will make the opposite decision."

While the claimant ignores even the finalized decisions that have passed through the Supreme Court of Appeals regarding himself by using abstract conspiracy theories under the guise of the 'presumption of innocence,' he declares people who were granted non-prosecution decisions after long investigations as guilty/suspicious despite those decisions. I don't think there is much to say about this inconsistency.

First of all, there is not even a single implication regarding the investigations and cases I followed in the 'SaBıKa Holding' brochure. I did not even have contact with my party colleagues who prepared the brochure during or after its preparation. If I had, the information about the cases I followed would have been included in that brochure. Like everyone else, I found out about it when the brochure was published. As far as I know, some of the lawsuits filed regarding the brochure resulted in acquittals. If the claimant does not find the brochure accurate, he can participate in the trials and refute it by consenting to the 'right to prove.' It is not a situation that concerns me.

The claimant alleges that I was the one who had the news about him published. Even a simple social media search can reveal that this claim is also a lie. The intensification of negative news regarding the individual began in 2018 with the money laundering investigation in the US. Before this, news had already been reported about the individual, and the allegations were included in books. However, our involvement with the cases began after the power of attorney issued in January 2021. The claimant's statements are also intended to put pressure on and cast suspicion on brave journalists who report on behalf of the public and investigate the facts. It is also intended to make people think that future news based on facts is being done 'as if under some influence.' Furthermore, lawyers and politicians are also news sources. Many events of public interest can be followed thanks to this interaction."

"IT IS A CALL TO HIS FORMER COLLABORATORS: 'HELP ME OR I WILL EXPOSE YOU!'"

Asking, "So why did the claimant make these allegations that can be easily refuted?" Cihaner stated that Korkmaz's support, especially in the judiciary, security bureaucracy, and media, appears to have weakened.

Stating that Korkmaz wants to overcome his disadvantageous position in some cases by putting pressure on the judiciary and the press with these types of social media maneuvers, Cihaner used the following expressions:

"Perhaps it is a call to the politicians and former collaborators in the judiciary with whom he previously established dirty relationships: 'Help me or I will expose you!' I hope no one falls for this trap! Perhaps my political identity is being targeted. I am making this statement primarily because of this identity anyway. Considering the names the claimant has done business with and some of the accounts supporting him on social media, this also seems to be a possibility. Another reason is to force us to drop the case by intimidating lawyers with threats and unlawful complaints—just as he did previously with the Hergüner Law Firm. Despite all our criticisms, the place for resolving disputes is still the courts. It is not the juries that are intended to be established on social media."

As I mentioned above, I would not have considered engaging with this person if not for these allegations. I will not engage with him from now on either. In fact, at a time when I was thinking of leaving active legal practice to devote more time to politics, these allegations have led me to decide to pursue the existing cases to the end."