Master Journalist Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu asked, Necati Özkan answered: Who are the sponsors of the house in Paris

A debate had taken place regarding the 'Istanbul House' in Paris, which the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) announced it had opened for promotional purposes with the help of sponsors. 

Different figures were put forward regarding the payments made for the 'Istanbul House' in Paris, and a denial had come from the IMM. The identity of the sponsors was a matter of curiosity. 

The guest on this week's episode of the program '12'den' with master journalist Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu was political communication expert Necati Özkan. Necati Özkan explained the details regarding the sponsor information for the IMM's expenditures in Paris and the 'Ahmak' (Fool) case targeting IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. 

Necati Özkan provided a detailed response to Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu's question: “I want to talk about Paris. What happened? There are sponsorships. Voices were raised saying, 'Disclose the sponsors.' Why did you go to Paris, what did you do?” Özkan spoke as follows: 

“Ekrem İmamoğlu made a promise to the people of Istanbul in 2019 and presented a vision. He said that Istanbul would be a fair city, Istanbul would be a green city, and Istanbul would be a creative city. Regarding Istanbul becoming a fair city, there are examples in the history of Turkey that have never happened before concerning how public resources are used for citizens. It was said that it would be a green city, meaning 22 'Life Valleys' are currently being built, 15 are nearing completion, and new green belts are being constructed for Istanbul; we will see the results of these. Likewise, infrastructure that has not been built in the 100-year history of Istanbul is being constructed, including subways.

Therefore, in summary, we can say that the Ekrem İmamoğlu administration has done things in these areas that have never been done in the history of Turkey. There is a vision put forward to bring new capital to Istanbul, to make new investments in Istanbul, and to bring visitors from around the world to Istanbul with new events, and here, concerts and international sports competitions, as well as festivals, are an important goal. I mean, let me put it this way: London earns approximately 28 billion Pounds a year just from sports competitions. Therefore, bringing major international sports organizations to Istanbul was an important goal. In this context, the process for Istanbul's 2036 Olympic bid was initiated, and again in this context, the European Games were secured for Istanbul.

The 2027 European Games were announced for Istanbul simultaneously with the European Olympic Committees' executive board announcement in Rome in January 2024 and Ekrem İmamoğlu's announcement in Istanbul; then, they went to Rome to sign for this. It was an initiative started by Ekrem İmamoğlu with the leadership of 'let's build an Istanbul House in Paris to make the 2027 European Games bigger, and let's do this together with the ministry.' Of course, a lot of correspondence was made with the ministry on this matter. The ministry did not respond to any correspondence, like a wall. Upon this, Ekrem İmamoğlu decided to do this on his own on behalf of the municipality.

However, it is very useful to know this: during Olympic times, all countries in the world go and set up a house during that Olympic period. It is not something unique to Turkey. For example, there were nearly 50 country houses in Paris. Like the India House, the Brazil House… Turkey didn't have one, but Istanbul did; there was an Istanbul House. Now, this Istanbul House was planned as the rental of a building owned by the Paris Metropolitan Municipality for two days, and in those two days, it was planned to hold one reception entirely for the whole sports world, the whole Olympic world, and Olympic decision-makers, and a second one for our citizens living there, and it was implemented as such. It is one of the most important lobbying efforts ever made in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Ekrem İmamoğlu and his team met with all international Olympic decision-makers on this occasion. The entire budget of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality was covered by sponsors.”

WHO WERE THOSE SPONSORS

Necati Özkan gave the following answer to Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu's question, “Who were those sponsors?”: 

“When the names of the sponsors are announced, they suffer damage because they are announced as sponsors of a municipality from the opposition in such periods. Therefore, it was decided not to disclose them, but the sponsors are important brands and important institutions that we know…”

THEY WILL PAY THE PRICE IN THE AHMAK CASE

Necati Özkan, who also managed İmamoğlu's election campaign, made very important statements. Making critical assessments of Erdoğan and the AKP, Necati Özkan pointed out that when looking at the history of Turkey, society has given elected parties a chance for 3 terms. He stated that after Erdoğan was elected for 3 terms, there was actually a desire for a "Coalition" from society, but Erdoğan did not fulfill the desire of society by dragging the country into chaos.

Necati Özkan emphasized that for Erdoğan to be a presidential candidate, a decision for early elections must come from parliament. However, he commented that Erdoğan would stay until the last minute.

Necati Özkan used the expressions "It only has a cover, the inside of the file is empty" for the 'Ahmak' (Fool) case filed against İmamoğlu.

To Tuncay Mollaveisoğlu's question: “I covered the topic, an 'Ahmak' case… Well, we had talked about it with you, and I wrote about it in my own column. We can clearly say that this is a new project aimed at blocking Ekrem İmamoğlu's path. We have seen and experienced this in past periods as well. We saw how this government took a won election away from İmamoğlu right before our eyes; can they act so recklessly? They did. We called it lawlessness, they did it, and it backfired in this society; Ekrem İmamoğlu and his team won Istanbul again even more strongly, but that process did not end. Then remember the former Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, what did he do, what did he say? What claims did he make? He made unbelievable claims about Ekrem İmamoğlu and the Istanbul Municipality every day, and he did this in his capacity as Minister of Interior. The 'Ahmak' case emerged. We see it, this case is now being tossed around like a ball from there to here, from here to there, it is completely empty inside, but we also know that in Turkey, some things are unfortunately archived and kept to be used when the time and place come. There is no law or justice in Turkey. How do you evaluate this?” Necati Özkan responded as follows: 

“First of all, a general assessment: such regimes, autocratic regimes, regimes actually heading towards dictatorship, manage every mechanism of power. Therefore, the independence of the judiciary in Turkey is no longer even a matter of debate; I cannot even discuss this intellectually. However, every unlawful, non-political, and untruthful attack made by the current administration, the current government, against Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been their target since 2014, has strengthened Ekrem İmamoğlu. They might go for an impossible decision, but it is obvious that the cost of this will be very heavy because the Republican People's Party is the leading party…

The Republican People's Party is the most organized party in this country… It is not such an easy job to sideline one of the main players of the Republican People's Party with a file that is completely empty inside; such a decision cannot be made easily. They can see how heavy the cost of this will be, at least by looking at the 2019 elections. We can say this as a reflex of society, but the party also has organized forces, meaning no one should expect such a thing. I mean, 'we did it and it happened, we did it and it happened'; I don't think they can easily dare to do this, but if they do dare, I think they will be ready to pay the price for it in one way or another.”