Tanju Özcan: I am ashamed to be standing before you on this charge

The second hearing of the case opened as part of the investigation into the Bolu Municipality was held at the Bolu 3rd High Criminal Court.

In the trial, which began following the acceptance of a 178-page indictment prepared as part of an investigation launched upon a report by the Ministry of Interior's Civil Inspection Board, 19 defendants, including Tanju Özcan, who was suspended from his post as Mayor of Bolu, appeared before the judge.

The defendants face charges of "extortion by coercion," "attempted extortion," "bribery," "qualified fraud," and "violation of the Law on Foundations and Associations." During the hearing, Tanju Özcan provided his defense regarding the allegation that a bribe was taken for a cafe license.

He provided his defense regarding the license allegations

According to information in the indictment, it was stated that the President of the Bolu Greengrocers and Vendors Chamber and the President of the Bolu Köroğlu Credit, Tradesmen and Craftsmen Chamber, Mustafa Altındal, intervened to obtain a license for a cafe in Bolu. It was stated that Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan was visited by M.K., who wanted to obtain the license, and E.Y., who wanted to deliver the license.

The indictment alleged that during the meeting, Mustafa Altındal said that M.K. would make a 500 thousand TL donation to BOLSEV for the licensing procedures, and that 100 thousand TL of this donation amount was later taken by Altındal as a bribe. An investigation file was opened following these allegations. The suspended detained defendant Tanju Özcan provided his defense in court regarding these claims.

"I am ashamed to be standing before you on this charge"

Stating that he did not accept the charge against him, Özcan said, "This is the weakest part of the indictment. I am ashamed to be standing before you on this charge. If a lawsuit is filed against me for this, there would be no administrator left in Turkey against whom a lawsuit has not been filed."

Evaluating the licensing process, Özcan said, "If we issued a license with missing documents, it would be a crime and we would be tried; if we didn't give it when something was requested, we would be accused again."

"We did not establish this foundation to take money from small tradesmen"

Denying the allegations that donations were requested through BOLSEV, Özcan stated that the purpose of the foundation was to support the children of low-income families. Özcan said, "We did not establish this foundation to take money from small tradesmen. We established it to give money to the children of small tradesmen. We did not ask for 1 kuruş from small tradesmen. We established the foundation to look after the children of low-income people. I do not ask for or expect anything from them."

Arguing that it was impossible for a contribution to the foundation to be requested from him in exchange for solving a business matter, Özcan said, "They come to my office and say, 'Let me contribute to the foundation, solve my problem.' Forget about solving it, I would kick them out of the office. I would not get involved in such a matter."

"There was no meeting, the conversation lasted 2-3 minutes"

Stating that the conversation in question was not a long meeting, Özcan said that the meeting was short. Özcan said, "There was no meeting anyway. The conversation lasted 2-3 minutes. I probably didn't even tell them to sit down. I just listened to them and took notes. 'It will be asked to Emre, it will be asked to the head of the municipal police.' If there is a matter to be solved, I tell them to call the citizen. I don't have the situation to sit and wait with them for 20-30 minutes. Such a conversation did not happen, it cannot happen."

"Why didn't they ask me anything for 7 months?"

Stating that there was no return to him for a long time after the meeting, Özcan argued that the allegations were not in accordance with the ordinary flow of life. Özcan said, "It is said that this meeting took place in August or September. I went on Umrah in December. 7 months pass before I am arrested. I am not an unreachable person. Why didn't they ask me anything for 7 months? Can't they ask, 'We gave this much of the money to the foundation, is there no development in our license business?' No one asked. It was just said in passing; if a chamber president visits me today and wants to tell me something, I cannot say no."