109-page letter from Seçil Erzan to the court: 'Every event that has happened to date...'

The fraud trial of former Denizbank branch manager Seçil Erzan, who is accused of collecting money from many people in the sports and business worlds under the name of the 'Fatih Terim Fund' with the promise of high returns, continues at the Istanbul 41st High Criminal Court.

SHE WROTE A 109-PAGE LETTER

It has emerged that Erzan, in the case that has occupied the public agenda, sent a 109-page letter to the court where the trial is being held.

According to the report in Sabah, Erzan, who poured her heart out in a handwritten letter to the presiding judge, explained what she had been through one by one and requested help from the judge to prove the facts. In the letter she wrote, Erzan stated from whom she received how much money and how much she paid back, and conveyed that she herself had suffered a loss of 1 million 600 thousand dollars.

"I apologize for my poor handwriting. My hands never stop shaking, and the facilities here are limited and very difficult," said Erzan, adding, "After this point, I am being tested with a very difficult and painful exam where my life has no importance to me, and I am only trying to endure it to see my mother. I am trying to hold on, I am struggling."

"I am not asking you to listen to me or understand me from the perspective of a psychologist, and I am not writing with such a thought," said Erzan, addressing the presiding judge with the words, "I only want you to know everything completely, by summarizing with all my sincerity every event that has happened to date and the people involved, and I request help so that I can prove the facts with law and justice."

ARDA TURAN, MERT ÇETİN, AYHAN AKMAN...

In her letter, Erzan stated, "Arda Turan did not have the cash he claimed to have in such large amounts. Mert Çetin was trying to direct everyone to buy a house and was making calls. Ayhan Akman wanted to start a construction project in Zekeriyaköy with the interest he wanted to get from me. These people had a lot of assets, but they did not have the cash flow or the income to increase the standard of living they wanted to live or were living. They were demanding this from me."

"ARDA TURAN WAS PRESSURING ME"

In her letter, Erzan, who said that Arda Turan needed a large amount of cash urgently at that time due to tax problems in Spain, stated, "I later learned that he had bought a very expensive vehicle, wanted to make the payment, and had made promises while negotiating for houses. Even though he had received almost all of his principal, he wanted just as much more immediately, was in a hurry, was pressuring me for this, and he himself was panicked."

She stated that former Galatasaray footballer Selçuk İnan came to her office at the bank and called Semih Kaya, and that she gave money to Semih Kaya after learning that he had earned a significant income.

Erzan said, "In the conversations I had with Arda Turan's brother, he told me that his brother's behavior regarding cash was wrong, that he had made wrong investments to date, and that it was necessary for them to make payments for this reason."

Stating that she heard conversations among the footballers about Seçil Erzan making them good money during the periods when they went to the coaching camp in Antalya, Erzan said, "Semih Kaya called me from the camp. He stated that Burak Yılmaz told him, 'I understand why you quit football,' that the high income he earned was from Seçil Erzan, and that Burak Yılmaz also wanted to make a payment to me but could not trust me and wanted mortgage collateral. Semih Kaya told me on the phone that he was uncomfortable and uneasy about this situation being heard."

In her letter, Erzan stated that activity began at the bank's Florya Branch towards the end of 2021, saying, "Loan sharks entering and leaving my office, money being taken and given with suitcases in the side street, unusual foreign currency movements at the Levent Branch in June; this could not happen in any branch like this. Semih Kaya entering and leaving my office with suitcases full of money. Tanın Yılmaz taking money in my office and depositing it at the teller window downstairs. Umut Akgöze doing the same by taking and depositing the money, different people entering and leaving my office. Constant meetings I held with my office door closed. Not going out for customer visits and not meeting with customers. Constantly running in and out of the branch without doing my routine daily work. These were unusual behaviors that I was also very uncomfortable with and had never done until that day."

"I FOUND MYSELF AMONG PEOPLE WHO WERE CRAZY ABOUT 'MONEY'"

Explaining that Semih Kaya and his manager Fırat Özdemir closed the doors of her office at the bank and made her sign papers, Erzan said, "I found myself among people who were crazy about money. I wanted to get rid of these people as soon as possible."

Erzan emphasized that she never wanted anyone to be a victim and that the money was taken from her by force by malicious people.

In her letter, where she said that the people who took money from her would look into her eyes and joke, "When we see Seçil, we see dollars in front of our eyes," Erzan stated, "Hüseyin Eligül bought a house and a car, Erkan Engene bought a villa and new vehicles, Mojtaba Haghani bought new cars, Çetin Özcan bought a new vehicle. Atilla Baltaş started a new business. Metin Taş bought a new vehicle. Ayhan Akman bought a new vehicle and started construction projects. Merve's sisters and brother-in-law bought vehicles. Tanın Yılmaz had bought fields and cars without withdrawing 1 lira for himself from his company. Merve Özer Yılmaz's father had bought a villa. Everyone was going on vacations abroad, making all kinds of expenditures easily, educating their children in the most expensive schools, and living a very comfortable life without any difficulties."

"I HAD REACHED THE POINT OF LOSING MY MIND"

Addressing the presiding judge of the court with the phrase 'Your Honor,' Erzan continued in her letter:

"They were making money transfers among themselves and taking interest from me. The money was not even coming to the bank, not even from Thrace to Istanbul. It was circulating among themselves. Then they would tell me, 'You are a bank manager, be careful, it will be heard, it will be misunderstood, rumors have already started.' If a single hair on my head fell out, 10 people would come to my house to check on me, saying, 'Be careful, don't let anything happen to you.' I, on the other hand, had reached the point of losing my mind. On top of all this debt that needed to be paid, these people were still hopelessly expecting money from me."

Pointing out that police officer Hüseyin Eligül educated his son in Italy with only the 15 thousand dollars he gave him, Erzan stated, "The exchange rate had gone from 3 to 20. He couldn't even finish school. Now he is going to get him married. He is waiting for the engagement jewelry and wedding expenses. We had bought his house, he was asking for the dues. We have the messages."