Özgür Özel reveals the first person Serdar Haydanlı called while in custody: 'Erdoğan's head of protection'

CHP leader Özel responded to the prosecutor's office, which had issued a statement claiming that Serdar Haydanlı — who was detained and then released as part of the operation targeting İBB Mayor İmamoğlu — was in fact still in custody.

CHP leader Özgür Özel had previously stated that Serdar Haydanlı, who also handles promotional work for the Presidency, was released immediately upon detention without even being placed in a holding cell. The prosecutor's office then issued a statement saying Haydanlı was in custody. Özel made a striking statement in response to questions about the prosecutor's announcement.

Özel, who revealed that Haydanlı was re-detained three days after it emerged he had been released, and that he was being held not in a detention cell but in a room at the police headquarters, stated that the first person Haydanlı called upon being taken into custody was Ali Erdoğan, President Erdoğan's head of protection.

Özel said the following:

"Everyone knows that Serdar Haydanlı was free that day. As the party's leader, I could not leave anyone alone in the face of such an operation. I told my lawyer colleagues to ask those detained how they were doing and whether they had any message for their families. We found everyone. We could not find Serdar Bey in the detention cell.

Yesterday, when information that he was not in the detention cell was being discussed everywhere, and when we loudly demanded to find him, they said 'bring him in quickly.' So is he in the detention cell? No. He is in a room on another floor. What is he doing? He is checking his WhatsApp. Serdar Bey was last seen on WhatsApp today at 14:38.

Mr. Prosecutor, why don't you go up to that room and check who he was messaging at 14:38? I have that too. Come on then, Mr. Prosecutor, Mr. Akın — go ahead and embarrass me. Show me this gentleman's medical check records from the first day, the second day, the third day. Show which hospital they were done at."

"HE FLED"

Stating that if the prosecutor is telling the truth, Haydanlı must have fled the police headquarters while in custody, Özel said: "This man fled Vatan Police Headquarters while in custody. Then he came back. Immediately assign an inspector and seize all camera footage at Vatan Police Headquarters. They say 'He came back.' In between, they actually released him… If they say 'We didn't release him,' then he fled. In that case, shouldn't he be arrested today on suspicion of flight? Let's see it happen."

HE CALLED ERDOĞAN'S HEAD OF PROTECTION

Noting that technical surveillance of those to be detained continued even after they were taken in, Özel said:

"Who did Haydanlı call first? Normal people like us call their mother, their spouse — but criminal types say 'They're taking me, brother.' If I tell you that Serdar Bey's first call was to Ali Erdoğan — President Erdoğan's head of protection — and if I also tell you that this 4.5G company has a considerable partnership with Ali Erdoğan's brother Ömer Erdoğan… What are we going to do, Mr. Akın? Hitting the axe against the stone again and again…

Now, with this file, with this secret witness's testimony, what are you going to do to whom? How is this going to work, Mr. Akın? You've embarrassed your own people again. Mr. Akın, you took on tasks you cannot carry out, you bit off more than you can chew. Mr. Akın, there will be a reckoning for this on judgment day. You have put so many people through so much suffering. You say 'I'll flee too, like Zekeriya Öz' — but they will hold you to account, Mr. Akın, they will hold you to account."

News Source: 12punto