Shocking claim marks Tanju Özcan’s trial: 'His driver was with us and watched while I was with Tanju Özcan'

Last February, following a criminal complaint filed by Tanju Özcan regarding allegations of blackmail against Mehmet Eren Akgüney, an investigation was launched, and a 13-page indictment was accepted by the Bolu 6th Criminal Court of First Instance. While Akgüney was detained and arrested on February 28, Tanju Özcan was also arrested and sent to prison as part of a separate case involving "extortion by coercion."

The indictment states that messages sent by Özcan to municipal staff member Öznur Ç. fell into the hands of the woman’s ex-boyfriend, Mehmet Eren Akgüney; and that in exchange for these messages, Akgüney demanded 20 million liras, a luxury car, and a car wash facility from Özcan.

Boluspor Club President Erdal Bayrak and CHP Municipal Council Member Hüseyin Ekrem Serin were also included in the file on allegations of mediating the blackmail.

In the same file, Tanju Özcan also faces up to 3 years in prison for "blackmail" due to his actions toward Öznur Ç. and his remarks in his office.

Tanju Özcan’s lawyer walked toward the judge

Tanju Özcan, who is detained for another offense, did not attend the first hearing of the case at the Bolu 6th Criminal Court of First Instance due to health issues, while Özgür Yıldız, whose name is mentioned in the file, also did not attend, citing an excuse. At the beginning of the hearing, Özcan’s lawyer, Uğur Poyraz, requested the recusal of the judge, telling the court, "You are a person who has become an adversary to Tanju Özcan." When lawyer Poyraz, who walked toward the judge, was ordered to be removed from the courtroom under Article 203/2 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK), he resisted. The hearing was adjourned following a scuffle with law enforcement and the bailiff.

"We need to close this issue, Tanju Özcan is politically powerful"

Detained defendant Mehmet Eren Akgüney, who claimed that Tanju Özcan’s Chief of Staff Özgür Yıldız told him, "We need to close this issue, Tanju Özcan is politically powerful," said, "I do not accept any of the accusations. Öznur was my girlfriend. We had problems from time to time, but we continued to see each other. We did not meet by force, our relationship was not bad. I realized the situation after her phone rang or a message arrived while Öznur Ç. was at my house. She told me she was seeing Tanju Özcan. A voice recording regarding her had been sent to the municipality.

She explained that Tanju Özcan learned about this and called her in. Tanju Özcan told Öznur, 'If Eren hears this voice recording, it will be a problem,' and Öznur said she had to meet with him because of this. I was affected by this situation. I am being victimized through her. The content of the voice recording mentioned that Öznur Ç. had an abortion. I have known Tanju Özcan since his time as a member of parliament. I called Tanju Özcan and said, 'Did we hire people at the municipality so that someone could be with our girlfriend, our sister, or our daughter?' Tanju Özcan replied, 'You cannot talk to me like that, know your place, I will hold you accountable for this conversation.' I do not accept Öznur’s accusations against me. I think she gave these statements under pressure.

After Tanju Özcan spoke with me, he called Erdal Bayrak and Hüseyin Ekrem Serin. He wanted them to talk about my statements and close this issue. I explained the situation to Erdal Bayrak and Hüseyin Ekrem Serin and asked them not to intervene. They didn't say anything. They didn't want to get involved because the subject was inappropriate. I called Tanju Özcan again later. I told him, 'You know me, you look me in the face, but you can do something like this.' Tanju Özcan got angry at me and gave the phone to someone else.

Chief of Staff Özgür Yıldız took the phone. Özgür said to me, 'Let’s meet tomorrow.' He called me the next day and invited me to the municipal facility. When I went, I explained the issue to him as well. Özgür told me, 'This issue will get us into trouble, we need to close this issue. If it doesn't close, you will also have trouble, brother. Tanju Özcan is politically powerful.' I replied, 'I didn't do anything wrong, why should I have the trouble?' I didn't ask anyone for anything. He didn't offer me anything either. I didn't call anyone else. I was seeing Öznur, but I didn't talk to anyone about this threat issue," he said.

"I definitely think this is a political maneuver"

After the break following Mehmet Eren Akgüney’s defense, CHP Bolu Municipal Council Member Hüseyin Ekrem Serin, who is being tried without arrest, gave his defense first. Expressing that he had a brotherly relationship with Tanju Özcan and was shocked when he learned he was a defendant during the investigation, Hüseyin Ekrem Serin said, "I am 71 years old, I have been a municipal council member for 3 terms. I am the group deputy chairman of the CHP. I have been involved in politics with Tanju Özcan for 20 years. Tanju Bey called me around 11:00 PM. He said Mehmet Eren had called him on the phone. I didn't understand what he meant.

For this reason, he wanted me to meet with Mehmet Eren. Mehmet Eren’s late father was my childhood friend. I have known Eren for years. After talking to Tanju Bey, I called Eren on the phone. I asked Eren about the situation on the phone. What he told me was very clear; 'Hüseyin Uncle, the subject is very sensitive, it is not a subject to be discussed on the phone,' he said and we hung up. According to the information I learned later, Tanju Özcan called Erdal Bayrak.

I don't know what they talked about. I later met with Erdal Bayrak. Eren had explained this issue to Erdal Bey in detail. Eren did not want to talk about this and said, 'Don't tell me anything about this.' Tanju Bey informed Özgür Yıldız that he wanted to meet with us. Özgür told me at the municipality. We met with Erdal Bayrak, Tanju Özcan, and Özgür Yıldız at the Support Services Directorate building. In this meeting, there was a conversation like 'let's resolve the issue.' In our meeting, Erdal Bayrak stated that the subject was sensitive and that he wanted them not to be involved in this matter.

Upon this, Tanju Özcan told Erdal Bayrak that he would seek his rights through legal channels if necessary. During the conversation, the subject of money was definitely not discussed in the slightest. I had no further meetings afterward. Later, Özgür Yıldız asked me a few times to resolve this issue. He stated that Tanju Özcan had a political future. Özgür Bey said at the meeting held at the bus terminal, 'Let me sell my vehicle and add a few pennies to it and give it to Eren.' We said, 'If you give it, we won't interfere.' We were like brothers with Tanju Özcan.

It surprised me a lot that he made such accusations against me. I have known Erdal Bayrak since his childhood. I am like a brother to Erdal as well. When we were called to the Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding this matter, I thought I was called as a witness. But I was very surprised when I learned from the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office that I was a suspect. Tanju Özcan has filed a complaint against us. I definitely think this is a political maneuver," he said.

"Tanju Özcan was insistent on me intervening, I said 'don't involve me' because it is a sensitive subject"

Boluspor President Erdal Bayrak, who is being tried as a non-detained defendant in the case, said, "Tanju Özcan called me at night and said, 'Your driver spoke ill of me.' However, he did not say exactly what Eren said to him. Upon this, I called Eren and asked, 'What business do you have with Tanju Özcan?' Eren told me that he had caught the messages with Öznur Ç., nicknamed 'Maviş,' and that he would explain the issue in more detail tomorrow. When Eren came to pick me up the next morning, we went to the bus terminal. When I asked what happened there, Eren explained the details of the incident to me.

Then I called Tanju Özcan, but he hung up the phone saying, 'We'll talk later.' Later, in the meeting we had with Hüseyin Ekrem Serin, he also told me that Tanju Özcan had called him. I stated that he had called me too. I discussed this situation with Hüseyin Uncle. Afterward, I called Tanju Özcan again and said that I would take Hüseyin Uncle with me and come to him. We went to the Bolu Municipality Annex Building to see Tanju Özcan. When we entered, Özgür Yıldız was also there. Tanju Özcan brought up the Eren issue. I told him, 'The Eren issue is a bit of an inappropriate subject, don't involve us in this matter.'

However, Tanju Özcan was a bit insistent on this issue. He even used an expression like, 'If something like this happened between you and Özgür, I would handle it.' I then stated that the example he gave was not a correct example. Since I am the Boluspor President and Özgür and Tanju Bey work at the municipality, we were meeting with them from time to time on issues related to Boluspor. Likewise, since Ali Sarıyıldız was also at the municipality, we had meetings from time to time. In the following process, they called Hüseyin Uncle.

They came to the bus terminal with Özgür. While talking about Boluspor at the bus terminal, the subject came back to Eren’s 'Maviş' (Öznur Ç.) issue. Özgür stated that this issue was very important for them. He made an offer to me, saying, 'Let’s open a car wash for Eren, I have a car, I have a few pennies of savings, let’s give that, etc.' I replied to him, 'Eren is not dead, his phone is also on. Call him, don't involve me in this matter.' Later, when we came to give a statement to the Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, I was very surprised that Tanju Özcan filed a complaint against me," he said.

"His driver was with us and watched while I was with Tanju Özcan"

Öznur Ç., who took part in the hearing as a complainant, stated during her defense that she could not make a comfortable statement due to the crowd in the courtroom and requested that the party members and journalists be removed. The court board evaluated this request and decided to remove the journalists and spectators from the courtroom. After the courtroom was emptied, Öznur Ç., who was heard in a closed session, made shocking claims in her statement.

In her statement to the court, Öznur Ç. said, "After the voice recording that came to the municipality, Tanju Özcan called me to his side and said, 'What happens if Eren hears this voice recording?' He asked for a friendship with me. Although I did not accept this, I had to communicate with Tanju Özcan, even if I didn't want to, due to the fear of being fired and not wanting to experience problems with Mehmet Eren, with whom I was already having problems.

Even when Tanju Özcan tried to communicate with me via WhatsApp calls and messages, I was not answering them; upon this, his driver Suat called me and said, 'The mayor sent you a message, answer him.'

During these forced relationships of the mayor, his driver Suat was also constantly actively involved in the business. Tanju Özcan’s driver took me to Narven Thermal Town. While we were drinking there, I was with Tanju Özcan. His driver was with us at the time and watched us," she said.

"They said the messages would be sold to political rivals by Eren"

Witness Ali Sarıyıldız, who is detained in prison for another offense and attended the hearing via SEGBİS, stated the following in his testimony:

"I don't know Eren. I met with Hüseyin Ekrem Serin, Erdal Bayrak, and Özgür Yıldız once. The four of us came together at a restaurant. Erdal Bayrak and Hüseyin Ekrem Serin told us that this incident should not be prolonged and should be closed. During the conversations, the subject of money came up. It was said that 20 million TL, a car, and a car wash place were requested. Ekrem Serin and Erdal Bayrak voiced these. They stated that if these demands were met, Eren would close the issue. In addition, Hüseyin Ekrem Serin and Erdal Bayrak said that Eren had messages in his possession and that these would be sold to political rivals by Eren. I got up from that table and stated that I did not want to get involved in this matter. I am someone who goes home from work at 6 PM in the evening."

1 defendant released in blackmail trial

After the defenses and witness statements, the court board announced its interim decision and ruled for the release of the detained defendant Mehmet Eren Akgüney. The hearing was adjourned to May 4 in order to resolve the deficiencies in the file and to hear other witnesses.

News Source: İHA