Mayor Güner's statement on 'arrest': A process serving the public interest was used as the reason for my arrest

Hüseyin Can Güner, who was removed from his post as Mayor of Çankaya following his arrest, has issued a written statement regarding the accusations against him.

Stating that he was arrested due to a canceled vehicle rental tender, Güner said, "A legal process that was approved by the Council of State and serves the public interest has been used as the reason for my arrest today. Neither the police nor the prosecutor's office directed any concrete allegations or even questions to me regarding receiving bribes or establishing an organization."

Sharing the details of the tender process in question, Güner emphasized that public resources were protected by the cancellation of the tender and made the following statements:

"The tender in question was concluded at a price very close to the estimated cost with a 0.7 percent discount rate, at a monthly cost of 26 million 380 thousand TL. For this reason, it was canceled by the tender official in accordance with Article 40 of the Public Procurement Law. Everyone who submitted a valid bid for that canceled tender was invited to the next tender, and the subsequent tender was concluded at a price of 21 million 950 thousand TL. Therefore, the municipality was prevented from paying more than 4 million 500 thousand TL per month.

Furthermore, this tender was also canceled by the Public Procurement Authority (KİK) in addition to the municipal tender official. Although the company that won the canceled tender was invited to the subsequent tender, it did not participate and filed a lawsuit against both the municipality and the KİK in administrative court; the cases it filed were rejected and upheld by the Council of State."

"A process approved by the Council of State was used as the reason for arrest"

Stating that the company that lost the tender filed a complaint with malicious intent, Güner included the following assessment in his statement:

"A legal process that the Public Procurement Authority itself canceled, that our municipality's tender official canceled due to the high price and its proximity to the estimated cost, and which indeed resulted in subsequent tenders at a monthly cost 4-5 million TL lower—meaning the rights and interests of the people of Çankaya were protected and which serves the public interest—has been used as the reason for my arrest today, despite having passed the approval of the Council of State. This entire investigation process has demonstrated the accuracy of the decision made by our colleagues."

"The secret witness claim is abstract, I have no conflict of interest"

Expressing that no accusations of bribery or establishing an organization were directed at him within the scope of the investigation, Güner concluded his words as follows:

"Neither the police nor the prosecutor's office directed any concrete allegations or even questions to me regarding receiving bribes or establishing an organization. The secret witness claim mentioned in the press is entirely in the nature of an abstract opinion, consisting of only a few sentences, and there is not even a single concrete secret witness statement. Just as I do not know any company official, I have no conflict of interest.

I would like to thank each and every one of you for the support and trust you have shown me throughout this entire process, and for the solidarity expressed by everyone I know and do not know. I want you to know that there is no account we cannot give and that we will meet again in better days very soon."