Response from the Istanbul Governor's Office to Resul Emrah Şahan's defense: Unfounded allegations, imaginary scenarios

The Governor's Office provided the following response regarding the statements made by Şahan during his defense.

"The allegations made by former Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan in the court where he is being tried do not reflect the truth. All of the allegations are of a distortive nature.

The course and reality of the matter subject to the allegations are as follows:

The plot in question, located in the Kaptanpaşa neighborhood of the Şişli district, belongs to the Bulgarian Foundation.

A construction contract based on a revenue-sharing model was signed between Taş Yapı and the Bulgarian Foundation in 2006.

Taş Yapı obtained the necessary permits from the Şişli Municipality for a 72-story construction on the plot, and the municipality approved the preliminary project in 2008.

The Şişli Municipality did not approve the construction permit required for the start of the construction of this project, for which it had approved the preliminary project, until 2015, for 'reasons unknown to us.'

The company referred the matter to the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization; the Ministry approved it on 14.04.2015, revising the number of floors from 72 to 38.

The construction work initiated by the company, which completed the approval process by the Ministry, was obstructed by the Şişli Municipality on various grounds.

The company reported the situation to the Ministry of Interior, the Istanbul Governor's Office, the Şişli District Governorate, and the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, filing a complaint regarding the arbitrary practices of the Şişli Municipality.

Upon the complaint, the Ministry of Interior appointed a chief civil inspector regarding the matter.

The meeting that took place between former Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan and our Governor, Mr. Davut Gül, also concerns this matter subject to the investigation and the grievances arising from the Şişli Municipality's attempts to obstruct the rights stemming from zoning plans, which the Bulgarian Foundation has voiced on every platform.

All transactions related to the subject belong to the period before the appointment of a trustee to the Şişli Municipality. There is no permit issued during the trustee period.

Following the appointment of a trustee after the detention of Resul Emrah Şahan, no administrative action has been taken in favor of the company. Furthermore, since the planning process in question is carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, it is not possible to take such an action.

On the other hand, within the scope of a 'Special Project Area' approved by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, it is not possible for a district municipality to take administrative action regarding permits or other procedures.

Therefore, Resul Emrah Şahan is trying to create the perception that he is displaying a so-called 'environmental resistance' by claiming that he resisted on a matter where all approval processes were carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.

Furthermore;

The meeting in question held by our Governor, Mr. Davut Gül, was carried out as a requirement of his duty within the framework of the requests and allegations conveyed to him, and it is not possible to attribute any different meaning to it.

In conclusion:

Such rhetoric aimed at misleading the public with unrealistic allegations in a file where the judicial process is ongoing is unacceptable. The effort of the relevant individual to dilute the issue by involving third parties and institutions through unfounded allegations and imaginary scenarios, instead of facing his current legal situation, will not change the truth. It is important that the public does not give credence to such allegations whose accuracy has not been verified."

Eski Şişli Belediye Başkanı Resul Emrah Şahan’ın, yargılandığı mahkemede ileri sürdüğü iddialara ilişkin basın açıklamamız…

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— TC İstanbul Valiliği (@TC_istanbul) March 24, 2026

WHAT DID RESUL EMRAH ŞAHAN SAY?

In his defense, Şahan had used the following expressions regarding the Taşyapı project in Şişli:

“On April 26, we conducted an inspection in the area in question, detected a violation of the permit, and sealed it. We wrote to the Ministry, and they also accepted the violation and stopped the work. Then we examined the area behind the municipality; we saw that illegal activity was continuing there as well. Since it was outside our authority, we reported it to the Ministry again. After we sealed the construction in the first area, the UTK (Transportation Coordination Center) permits were canceled, and truck entries and exits were stopped. Despite this, the company broke the seal and continued to work. Upon this, we filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor's office.

During this process, a concrete mixer at a construction site where the seal had been broken caused the death of a 72-year-old citizen; despite this, the construction continued. Afterward, intense inspections were initiated on the municipality. The Governor called me many times and said, ‘What will happen? There are skyscrapers everywhere, let there be one here too. There will be trouble.’ I hope he does not deny it. We did not do it, Mr. Mayor. We stood our ground, we stood where we were supposed to stand.

Now, Mr. President, what is expected of me is that I am being tried today because I did not align with the mentality that this skyscraper represents. This is my position in this substitute detention. I am being tried because I did not align with this. What was expected of me was to ignore it. This was the most comfortable thing for me. If I had ignored what business people and contractors wanted, in the times they wanted, in the way they wanted; if the rights of the city and the public had not been my priority, if my friends and I had not fulfilled the requirements of our administrative duties, believe me, you would not have been able to put any issue before us today. You would not have been able to make a substitute detention. Today, I am detained not because I did what the contractors wanted, but because I did not.”

News Source: 12punto