SBK announces he will appear on Fatih Altaylı's show... Altaylı: I have no information at the moment

Masum GÖK-12punto.com.tr/EXCLUSIVE 

Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, who is subject to an arrest warrant in Turkey and currently lives in the USA, announced in an X chat room that he will appear on Fatih Altaylı's YouTube channel on Friday. 

Speaking to 12punto, Fatih Altaylı said, "I have said this before. I stated that I would do such a program if it were a taped broadcast where I could ask all my questions. Emre Bey was conducting the negotiations. I don't know what stage it is at. I have not been informed that there will be a broadcast on Friday. I repeat; I will only do such a program if it is a taped broadcast where I can ask all my questions." 

Fatih Altaylı had previously written in his column that Sezgin Baran Korkmaz wanted to appear on his YouTube channel. In that article, Fatih Altaylı used the following expressions: 

"Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, who was detained in Austria after leaving Turkey, was extradited to the USA following extradition requests from the USA and Turkey, and was tried and released there along with his American partners for a crime that we can summarize as 'defrauding the US government with fake documents'.

Korkmaz is contacting me for the second time.

SBK, whom I have never faced and whose hand I have never shaken, called me while he was in Austria and said that Veyis Ateş had demanded a 10 million dollar bribe from him to have the arrest warrant against him in Turkey lifted.

I wrote about this, and that article marked the end of Veyis Ateş's presence in the media, to which he had transitioned from being a religious studies teacher.

This time, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz wanted to have a meeting with me.

His desire was to do a program with me.

Some time ago, he was brought onto CNN Türk screens under the guise of a coincidence, and it was later understood that this was an organized affair.

Moreover, a list had been circulating for some time, and this list also included the names of journalists that Sezgin Baran Korkmaz could use to improve his image in Turkey, as well as the price for this work.

Since I knew all of this, I could not approach his request for a meeting very positively.

Even though the subject interested me as a journalist, I did not want to be in the same frame as Korkmaz due to the culture of doing business with dirty journalists.

And why did he want to meet with me when there were so many other newspapers and journalists?

He answered.

A high-level media executive had said, 'Meet with Altaylı. Tell him your troubles. Everyone knows he cannot be bought.'

I asked, 'Why me instead of a broadcast in that media?'

There was no clear answer to this, but the fear of RTÜK was also one of the factors.

I said, 'I will meet with you on one condition.'

I said, 'We can meet if you disclose the names of the journalists you have financial relationships with in Turkey and share the names of the journalists and politicians you hosted in your hotel for months with the public.'

He said, 'I am ready to disclose all of this and more in the meeting we will have with you.'

On one hand, it would be a broadcast that I, as a journalist, would very much want.

On the other hand, the matter is so dirty and filthy that I am afraid my hands and feet will look dirty.

Still, if I were sure that he would make honest statements, I would risk everything, but I cannot be sure.

Should I have this meeting!

The fact that he had this entire conversation in disappearing message mode does not exactly settle my stomach either."