Scandal in Gaziosmanpaşa: Deputy Mayor exposed as a 'ghost employee'
While the Gaziosmanpaşa Municipality, won by the CHP at the ballot box, was transferred to the AKP through a judicial decision, it has emerged that the AKP's Eray Karadeniz, who took the seat, had been receiving a salary for years without going to work and was officially confirmed by the court to be a 'ghost employee'.
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Gaziosmanpaşa, known as one of the strongholds of the AKP, had passed to the CHP in the elections held on March 31, 2024, and Hakan Bahçetepe was elected Mayor of Gaziosmanpaşa.
Following the arrest of Bahçetepe on bribery charges based on the testimony of controversial witnesses and the suspension of his mayoral powers by the Ministry of Interior, AKP Municipal Council Member Eray Karadeniz was elected to the seat of Acting Mayor of Gaziosmanpaşa in a vote held among council members on Wednesday.
Thus, while the municipality effectively passed from the CHP to the AKP, the situation drew intense reactions from the opposition. While CHP leader Özgür Özel described the events as a 'usurpation of the national will', Karadeniz's act of smiling and posing for photos as soon as he took his seat, and going out to greet citizens and shopkeepers as if he were the elected mayor, was harshly criticized on social media.
CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE TURNS OUT TO BE A 'GHOST EMPLOYEE'
According to a report by Barış Pehlivan from Onlar TV; after Eray Karadeniz took the seat of Acting Mayor, his social media posts from previous years came to light, revealing that he was among the personnel colloquially known as 'ATM employees'—those who receive a salary despite not actually showing up for work—and that he had been fired from the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) subsidiary İSPARK for this reason.
HID IT IN HIS RESUME, TURNED OUT TO BE AN İSPARK EMPLOYEE
Eray Karadeniz, a lawyer by profession who included details about his career on social media platforms, hid all details regarding his long tenure at İSPARK in his resume.
Investigations revealed that Karadeniz had worked for years at the İBB subsidiary İSPARK under the title of 'parking lot chief', but following detailed examinations conducted after Ekrem İmamoğlu took office in 2019, it was learned that there was no person by the name of Eray Karadeniz actually working at the institution, and that Karadeniz had been assigned to the municipal subsidiary solely to receive a salary as a 'ghost employee'.
Karadeniz, whose employment with İSPARK was terminated in 2020 on the grounds that he did not participate in the workforce in any way despite being hired in 2010 and receiving a salary as an employee for 10 years, complained about this situation and filed a reinstatement lawsuit.
RECEIVED A SALARY FOR 10 YEARS WITHOUT GOING TO WORK
Within the scope of the 'reinstatement lawsuit' that began in 2021 upon Karadeniz's complaint, witnesses working at İSPARK were brought to court.
All the witnesses brought before the judge declared that Karadeniz did not work at the institution in question and that they had never seen him at the workplace.
A witness who has been working as parking lot staff at İSPARK since 2012, whose testimony was sought during the hearing, responded to the question of whether Karadeniz worked at the institution by saying, "I have been working at İSPARK for 9 years, at the Eminönü-Unkapanı open parking lot where Eray Karadeniz was allegedly assigned. I heard the plaintiff's name for the first time when the court record arrived. I have never worked with the plaintiff before and I did not witness him working at the specified institution."
Another witness who testified in court and has been working at İSPARK for 15 years stated that he had been working for years at the parking lot where Karadeniz was registered, that he had never seen the plaintiff, that he had only seen his name on documents under the title of 'parking lot chief', but that Karadeniz had never come to the workplace.
COURT CONFIRMED HE WAS A 'GHOST EMPLOYEE'
After the witnesses brought to court declared that Eray Karadeniz had received a salary from İSPARK for 10 years despite not going to work, the court examined all records, leave documents, and witness statements regarding the incident and found his dismissal to be in accordance with procedure, rejecting the reinstatement lawsuit.