5 separate criminal complaints from Özlem Çerçioğlu: 'Çerçioğlu should also be included in the file'

Özlem Çerçioğlu, who has been involved in politics within the CHP for years and was elected Mayor of Aydın Metropolitan Municipality with the votes of CHP members in the last local elections, joined the AKP at a ceremony held on August 24, the 24th anniversary of the AKP's founding.

Çerçioğlu, whose badge was pinned by AKP President Erdoğan, stated that she would continue to serve Aydın more effectively.

Journalist İsmail Saymaz made assessments regarding Çerçioğlu's transition to the AKP. Saymaz announced that Çerçioğlu had filed 5 separate criminal complaints against him.

Saymaz drew attention to the statements of Baki Nugay, a partner of Aziz İhsan Aktaş, who became a whistleblower within the scope of the "Beşiktaş investigation" in which Adana Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Zeydan Karalar and Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin were also arrested. Quoting Nugay's statement, Saymaz reported the following:

“Regarding the Aydın Metropolitan Municipality, the municipality's tender was won by the Bilginay and Akdeniz companies. As the Berka firm, we provided 15 vehicles to Bilginay. The tender with registration number 2019 was won jointly by my firm, Barkan, and Bilginay. After we won the job, we were told by the authorities, ‘If you want to receive your progress payments on time, you will make the payments we request.’ We were told that we had to deposit money into the Aydınspor 1923 Association and a polling company under the instruction of Özlem Çerçioğlu. I had to accept the request because I knew that if we did not meet the demands, our payments would be delayed.”

Saymaz stated that Zeydan Karalar and Oya Tekin were arrested following Nugay's testimony and alleged that Çerçioğlu's transition to the AKP was for the purpose of protection.

Reacting to Çerçioğlu filing 5 separate criminal complaints against him, Saymaz said:

“Ms. Özlem, instead of filing against me, file against Baki Nugay. Did I call you a bribe-taker? He is the one saying, ‘I gave a bribe, I got what I was owed.’ Did I enter into any financial transactions with you? What did I say? I said, ‘This is shameless,’ to explain the contradiction between Özlem Çerçioğlu’s transfer to the AK Party, her effort to escape corruption investigations, and the portrait she has drawn until today versus her AK Party statements. Isn't that right?”

Saymaz commented that the transition of some CHP mayors to the AKP was intended to protect them from investigations and stated that Çerçioğlu should also be included in the file.