Director İsmail Güneş: 'Ayşe Barım threatened me!'

The investigation opened by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into talent manager Ayşe Barım continues. New allegations are emerging regarding the investigation, in which Serenay Sarıkaya has testified as a "witness" and Deniz Işın as a "victim."

One of those names is director İsmail Güneş. Stating that he suffered losses in two of his projects because of Ayşe Barım, Güneş said, "Ayşe Barım has an arrogant and threatening attitude. She feels entitled to do anything to those who are not one of her own."

Speaking to Tuba Kalçık from Sabah, Güneş explained the following:

"I have known Halit Ergenç since the early 2000s. We both worked together on a project for TRT while we were in America. An acquaintance that started there continued after he came to Turkey. In 2014, a very good project came to me. Knowing that the series 'Muhteşem Yüzyıl' (Magnificent Century) would be ending, I called him. We met. I asked him if his schedule was full for the summer. He told me he had agreed to a film project. I wasn't going to mention my project at all, but when he asked me, 'Do you have a project?', I explained it. He said he liked my project very much. After chatting a bit more, we parted ways."

Director İsmail Güneş continued his words as follows:

"A very short time after we parted, the casting director of my film project called me. He relayed that, 'Did you meet with Mr. Halit? Ayşe Barım called me, she was very angry. How can your director meet with my actor without my knowledge? I will not give you any actors. And I will not let those who give you actors provide any either,' she said. The fact that she said this in an openly threatening tone reveals everything.

Halit is my friend; do we need her permission to meet with my friend? I later offered this project to two actors, one female and one male. At first, they were very warm to the idea, but then, interestingly, they backed out. The female actor was in great need of money. They made her back out with the promise that she would get a role in a series. Despite some difficulties, I shot the film. I even researched whether the actors who took part had any connection to Ayşe Barım. This situation continued even after the film was finished. We also had trouble getting the film into theaters. It was released in very few cinemas. We even had trouble convincing distribution companies. I think Barım had a hand in this as well.

Ayşe Barım has an arrogant and threatening attitude. She feels entitled to do anything to those who are not one of her own. Actually, I wasn't thinking of disclosing this, but after seeing Halit's speech defending Barım, I wanted to explain it as well."