Fatih Altaylı lists the warnings he gave years ago for Haluk Levent: 'I didn't want to be proven right, but...'

Artist Haluk Levent has been detained as part of an investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office over allegations of irregularities within the AHBAP Association.

As the allegations against Levent dominate the agenda, journalist Fatih Altaylı made striking assessments regarding the investigation and Levent.

In the article he wrote about Haluk Levent, Altaylı recalled the warnings he had previously voiced regarding the artist's past gambling addiction and the financial structure of the AHBAP Association.

Altaylı stated that while Levent had promised him repeatedly that he had quit his gambling habit, which had caused him serious debt in the past, the fact that the AHBAP Association's financial audit reports were not shared with the public had created question marks in his mind over time.

In his article, Altaylı noted that while Levent stood out as someone trying to help those in need, he was also battling a gambling addiction, which is why he had approached him with caution for many years. Recalling that donations to AHBAP increased rapidly following the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, Altaylı noted that he had called for transparency from Levent during this process and had expressed that independent audit reports should be published regularly.

Altaylı argued that if the allegations subject to the investigation prove true, not only should Haluk Levent be held responsible, but the public institutions responsible for auditing the association should also be held accountable.

Here is Altaylı's article:

"As Deniz Göktaş said while making fun of me, I won't say 'Didn't I tell you, Emre!' Because sometimes you don't want to be proven right, you want not to be proven right; you don't want to know, you want to have been mistaken.

This time, my wish was to have been mistaken.

When I said to Haluk Levent, 'Haluk, you've started gambling again. That means your words have no meaning. Then the donations made to the Ahbap Association are also in danger. While you were collecting donations for this association to be delivered to the public and those in need, you came to us and swore that you had quit gambling. You also promised to have the association audited regularly. There is no information about auditing or the financial situation on the association's website. Share these audit reports with us, with the millions who donated to you,' I wanted you, despite the heavy suspicion within me, to account for every penny of this, to come out and say, 'Brother, here is the account for every single lira we spent.'

I felt it wasn't like that, I was even sure it wasn't, but I still wanted to hold onto a hope that you were a man of your word.

Everyone knew that Haluk Levent was a massive gambling addict, but there was also no doubt that he was a good person.

There was actually a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde conflict within him.

Haluk, who loves to do good, and Levent, the gambling addict.

On one hand, he was a poor soul who had gone to jail multiple times, even if for short periods, because of gambling debts, had squandered the millions he earned from the stage, and was stuck in a quagmire of debt.

On the other hand, he was a kind-hearted man trying to rush to the aid of everyone in need.

That's why I always kept my distance from him.

Until a project by Umut Yıldız, a Turkish scientist working at NASA, in 2002.

The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality was going to provide land and a building, a Science and Technology campus was to be established there with the contributions of NASA, and young people were to be engaged in scientific studies. It was going to be like the camps that have many counterparts in the West and especially in the USA, whose main purpose is to introduce science to children and young people and set them on the path to becoming scientists. The Ahbap Association was going to provide the financing for this.

Meanwhile, the Ahbap Association and its founder Haluk Levent had become very famous as an 'angel of kindness.' During the forest fires that left no place unburned in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions in 2021, he had stood out significantly, becoming famous for the firefighting planes he rented through the Ahbap Association and the support he provided to families affected by the fires. He was frequently in the news for the 'good deeds' he did or mediated, but I still knew that gambling was one of the hardest addictions to quit.

We did a program with Yıldız and Levent to explain this project to the public. In that program, we even talked about Chat GPT and Open AI, which had been opened to the public for the first time in Turkey a day or two before. We talked a lot about gambling with Haluk Levent, and he swore and gave promises that he had quit. I had the questions for the program prepared by Chat GPT. The year was 2022.

Then the 2023 Maraş Earthquake happened. Just like in the forest fires, Haluk Levent stood out again. The public, angry at the inadequacy of the Red Crescent (Kızılay) and state institutions during the earthquake, began to pour donations into Haluk Levent's Ahbap.

During this period, I warned him openly many times. Every time, he said, 'Brother, don't worry. Both the state is auditing us, and we will have ourselves audited by international independent audit firms. We will publish regular reports.'

When criticisms started coming from the government wing, he immediately tried to lean towards that side. He started working with ministries, or at least created that impression.

Then he became invisible. I called him a few times, inviting him to the program to explain his accounts and enlighten the public. He always said, 'Later, brother, later, brother.'

In the meantime, he appeared on a few channels close to the government. He said some things.

To tell you the truth, it would be more accurate to say he made people forget about himself.

When he came to the agenda last month with a bounced check case, I said, 'Give an account.'

He chose to obfuscate again.

And within a few weeks, the scandal broke.

The allegations are terrible; the money said to have evaporated, said to have been transferred to gambling, said to have been diverted to personal accounts is horrifying.

Well, as a result, this association is subject to audit.

What have the relevant state institutions done until today?

The auditing of associations is under the authority of the Ministry of Interior and a relatively new institution called the General Directorate of Relations with Civil Society.

What have they been doing all these years?

Let's certainly put Haluk Levent on trial. And let's convict him for abusing the trust of society, one by one for every single Turkish citizen or at least for every single donor.

If the allegations are true, his crime is truly great. Let's curse him as a shameless person who single-handedly destroyed the entire faith and trust of a society.

But let's not miss the public officials who didn't do their jobs.

They are not any less guilty."

News Source: 12punto