Referred to court with a request for arrest: Tanju Özcan's statement to the prosecutor's office revealed

The statement given to the prosecutor by Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, who was referred to court with a request for arrest as part of an 'extortion' investigation into the Bolu Municipality, has been revealed. Denying the accusations against him, Özcan stated that the inspections of markets were routine and said, "If I were trying to obtain benefits through coercion, I would not present a written proposal letter."

"I am not an official at any level of this company either"

Explaining the foundation's establishment process, Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan said, "The I Love Bolu Foundation (BOLSEV) is a foundation that I chair, established by a court order. I Love Bolu Education Trade Inc. is an affiliate of this foundation. I am not the chairman of the board of this joint-stock company. Bolu Bel A.Ş., on the other hand, is different from these and is a company 100 percent owned by the municipality. I am not an official at any level of this company either. In 2024, we established a foundation called BOLSEV; at that time, we were waiting for a court decision for the establishment of the foundation. The purpose of establishing the foundation was to provide aid to poor families, students, disabled citizens, and bedridden patients in the province of Bolu. Its ultimate goal was to build a large nursing home. I also made a call to the public through billboards. I asked the notables of Bolu, companies with high financial earnings, and people we know to be philanthropists to contribute to this foundation," he said.

"I did not have any statement like 'Friends, we will take this fee, you will either give it willingly or you will give it.....'"

Denying the accusations against him, Mayor Özcan said, "The meeting that was allegedly held was also a meeting held to collect aid for the foundation. Representatives of some markets operating within Bolu attended this meeting. At the meeting, I said that a foundation had been established, that this foundation would provide aid to students, the elderly, and the disabled, and I asked if they could donate to the foundation. Large market officials, in particular, said that they could not make direct donations, but that they had significant budgets for advertising and that they could provide this money by advertising. On the day of the meeting, no proposal text or letter regarding an advertising contract was definitely given. As I said, the subject of advertising came up upon the large market officials telling us this. Therefore, we did not have any prior preparation for advertising or a plan to offer an advertising proposal. Again, no one reported a positive or negative result that day. I did not have any statement like 'Friends, we will take this fee, you will either give it willingly or you will give it.....' to those who attended this meeting. Moreover, since I am a lawyer, I have enough knowledge not to say such a thing in front of so many people. As can be seen in the statements in the administrative investigation, none of the victims mentioned this in their statements," he stated.

"We are openly asking for help for that too"

Stating that he asks for help in matters where help is clearly needed, Özcan said, "To summarize, if I were trying to obtain benefits through coercion, I would not present a written proposal letter. If the victims had truly been coerced, they would not have been able to file lawsuits against every action taken. I already state that I am openly asking for help when help is needed. We even have a campaign right now for Rüzgar baby, who has SMA. We are openly asking for help for that too. In addition to this, I ask for help from philanthropists for Boluspor, mosques built in the province of Bolu, concerts, and fairs. In other words, I request help not only for our own foundation but for everything that is for the benefit of Bolu. I did not force anyone to sign an advertising contract at the meeting. I did not show any attitude regarding the fact that I would impose any sanctions if it was not done," he said.

"Ali Sarıyıldız used to track all the income and expenses of the foundation"

Stating that Ali Sarıyıldız was interested in the foundation, Özcan said, "The people who said that I committed extortion also said that a photo was taken after the meeting. If the situation of extortion were real, it would be contrary to the ordinary flow of life to take such a souvenir photo after the meeting. This situation stems from the following: These meetings were not official meetings, and I hold 7-8 such meetings a day. For this reason, I said that no meeting was held because I could not remember it in my first written statement. The statement I am giving now is correct. I did not give such a task. If I had given such a task, I would not have felt the need to hold a meeting myself later. Ali Sarıyıldız is a municipal council member. He is also a member of the board of directors of the BOLSEV Foundation. He is one of the five founding members, like me. As he is a financial advisor, he serves as the treasurer of the foundation. Ali Sarıyıldız used to track all the income and expenses of the foundation, the donations made, scholarship payments, and aid provided to patients. I did not give Ali Sarıyıldız any task regarding the advertising contracts made with the markets. I have no external knowledge of it either," he said.

"I would not want to make a 10 thousand TL contract for such large firms"

Stating that he would not want to make a contract for an amount like 10 thousand liras for large firms, Özcan said, "I do not remember the issue of the CEO of A 101 markets requesting an appointment from me. I did not have any meeting with him, and I do not know if Ali Sarıyıldız had any meeting. We did not have any meeting with Ali Sarıyıldız regarding the offer of A 101 markets to advertise. If I had such a meeting, I would not want to make a 10 thousand TL contract for such large firms. They gave me information about the donations made to our foundation. They asked us to thank those who helped our foundation. I also shot this video to thank those who helped our foundation and to share the services provided on behalf of our foundation. I was saddened by the fact that A 101 and ŞOK market did not help, and I wanted to express this situation in this way. In fact, it is obvious that there was no coercion even in this statement of mine. Due to the detention and the fact that our foundation will provide scholarships to students in need as of today, and because I and Ali Sarıyıldız, who are the authorized persons to perform this transaction, are here, I am saddened that the students' scholarships will not be able to be deposited. My words are limited to these," he stated.