Bülent Cihantimur referred to court with request for judicial control

Müslim Sarıyar / 12punto.com.tr

After his son T.C., who caused the fatal accident, and his ex-wife Eylem Tok fled to the USA, Bülent Cihantimur arrived at the Istanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan with his lawyer and gave a statement for approximately 2 hours.

Cihantimur said, "I will do whatever I can for the victim's family. I also believe that my son should come to Turkey and be held accountable before Turkish law."

Following his statement, Cihantimur was referred to court with a request for judicial control.

RELEASED

The travel ban issued via the case file was served to him. Cihantimur was released under judicial control.

Cihantimur will report to the police station where his residence is registered once a week to sign in.

ISSUED A WRITTEN STATEMENT

Stating in his written statement that he has been a physician for 24 years, Bülent Cihantimur described the day of the accident as follows:

''On the day the accident occurred, I went home and slept after a long surgery. I learned about the accident through a phone call from my ex-wife Eylem Tok. Eylem Tok called me about 1.5 hours after the accident. It was midnight when I received the call. My house is in Mecidiyeköy, very close to the clinic. I immediately took a taxi to the house where my ex-wife Eylem and my son lived together. My son was upstairs, in shock, and not in a condition to speak.

Eylem was also walking around the house making phone calls at that time. Since I did not see my son's condition as good, I wanted to take him for an examination first to see if he had any condition requiring emergency intervention. At this time, I was not aware that there were any injured or dead in the accident.

I hung up Eylem's phone and said, 'Let's first see if my son, who is in shock, has any health problems requiring emergency intervention, and then, since he does not have a driver's license, let's inform the lawyers and do what needs to be done.' I took my son and set off for the clinic, driving the electric vehicle that was there myself.

At this time, I saw Ayşe Ceren S., one of our company employees, in the garden. Eylem Tok also got into Ayşe's vehicle and they started following us. Although I tried to talk to my son on the way, he was closed off to the outside world due to the impact of the accident. During this time, the electric vehicle I was using first gave a warning and then ran out of battery.

The vehicle Eylem was in, which was following us, stopped next to us. We moved my son to that vehicle and I told Eylem, 'You go to the clinic, the child is still in shock, I called our driver Adem, I will come with him right behind you.' Adem came to me, picked me up, and we went to the clinic. When we got to the clinic, there was no one there.

It was during this time that I learned about Eylem's plan to take my son abroad, the injured in the accident, the scale of the accident, and that a death had occurred. Although I called Eylem many times, she did not answer her phones and finally turned her phone off. My son is 16 years old; he is a child who does not use alcohol or substances and has no bad habits.

When my son comes out of the shock he experienced that night, he is a child who will accept being tried in Turkey and paying the legal price for this mistake he made.

I have contacted the family of Oğuz Murat Aci, who passed away after the accident. I am very sorry for what happened. I know that the losses cannot be brought back. However, I will do whatever I can for the victim's family for the rest of my life. I also believe that my son should come to Turkey and be held accountable before Turkish law.

I will do my best for my son to come to Turkey and be held accountable before justice. I am very sorry for everything that has happened. Today, even though I was not summoned, I will give a statement regarding the matter of my own volition. I wanted to inform the public about the matter before giving my statement.''

WHAT HAD HAPPENED?

One of the 3 ATVs traveling in Eyüpsultan had broken down, and while they were trying to repair the broken-down vehicle pulled to the side of the road, one of the two vehicles traveling in the same direction hit the 3 ATVs there.

5 people injured in the accident were taken to the hospital, and Oğuz Murat Aci, one of the injured, could not be saved despite interventions.

In the investigation, it was determined that the 17-year-old driver T.C., who caused the accident, left the scene with the vehicle of his mother Eylem Tok, who arrived at the scene, went to Istanbul Airport around 02:00, and flew to Egypt around 04:30.

Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, an arrest warrant was issued for T.C. and Eylem Tok, who fled to Egypt, and subsequently, a letter was written to the Ministry of Justice with a request for a red notice.

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç also announced that contact had been made with Egyptian judicial authorities and that the temporary arrest request document for the extradition of the suspects, who were determined to have gone to the USA, had been forwarded to the authorized US authorities.

Ayşe Ceren S., a corporate communications specialist working at the workplace of the suspect's father Bülent Cihantimur, was arrested for the crimes of "aiding and abetting a criminal" and "concealing evidence," while judicial control measures were applied to Cihantimur and A.K., who delivered the lost phone of one of the injured to the police after the accident.