Oğuzhan Uğur’s prosecutor statement revealed: Questions on Ahbap and Babala TV

It has been learned that Oğuzhan Uğur gave a statement as a suspect within the scope of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office investigation numbered 2025/284884.

BABALA TV QUESTION

During the statement, Uğur was asked questions regarding the Ahbap Association, Haluk Levent, Babala TV, and company account transactions. It was stated that topics concerning the financial structure and donation processes of the Ahbap Association, in particular, were brought to the agenda within the scope of the investigation.

It was reported that Uğur, who stated in his testimony that his knowledge regarding the use of the funds was limited, said, "It is impossible for me to know where the money was used."

The police statement of Uğur, who was detained, has emerged. The highlights from Uğur's statement are as follows:

'I do not know anyone from the Ahbap Association other than Haluk LEVENT. I have no relationship with anyone. As far as I remember, an organization was held in 2018 for forest fires in which many artists participated. This organization was held in Izmir. I performed on stage at this organization without receiving any fee. Other than this, I did not take part in any organization. I did not receive any instructions from anyone. These support posts were not specific to the Ahbap Association anyway. We also had support posts for AFAD and KIZILAY at the same time.

On the day of the earthquake, while we were working hard to provide all the help we could due to our strong communication network in Istanbul, I received a call from Haluk LEVENT on the evening of 06.02.2023. He said to me, "Those activities are not done in Istanbul, come to Hatay and see the situation at point 0." I explained to him that we were also very eager to go, but that we could not find any means of transport, and that if we wanted to come with our personal vehicles, we were afraid that we would be crowded and become a burden. He told me that my communication power would be more useful there and said that an ambulance plane would fly to Adana the next morning. He gave the location and time information. He said, "Jump on that plane and come." We found it logical and flew to Adana by plane the very next morning. A vehicle sent by Haluk LEVENT met us in Adana. It took us to the Hatay Provincial Gendarmerie Building. Haluk LEVENT met me in the courtyard of the Provincial Gendarmerie Building in front of the AFAD Disaster Management Truck.

He quickly gave information about the situation. He explained what they were doing as the Ahbap Association. Afterwards, our ministers came to the truck. I left them alone. In accordance with the purpose of our visit, I conducted interviews with the aid teams in the surrounding area. Haluk LEVENT, who finished his meeting with the officials, came to me. I explained to him that the phone and internet were not working there and that we should return to Istanbul as a team so as not to get in the way. Because I did not think we could provide any benefit without internet and phone. Since I could find a plane a day later, we returned to Istanbul. We started to make aid broadcasts. We started to write the verified IBAN numbers of AFAD and the Ahbap Association on the lower banners of these broadcast videos.

Of course, during this time, many journalists were also asking for interviews to get information from us. In some of the interviews we gave during this rush, the expression "we are collecting money" was misunderstood. As will be examined in our accounts, not a single penny has been deposited. We are not any non-governmental organization. We are aware that we cannot carry out such an activity. Or, not a single penny has been transferred to Ahbap. In internet language, when you make an aid broadcast, for example for children with SMA, even if you give a Governor-approved IBAN, it is said to your followers that we are collecting money for this and that person. For this reason, we used the expression "collecting quickly" or "we are transferring" because we thought it would not be accepted as a statement. However, this does not mean that we collected this aid; it means that we gave their phone number or IBAN to people who said to us, "We want to send money to Ahbap or AFAD." What we transferred was not money, but information. This will be seen even in the slightest research.

I definitely did not take part in the activities of the Ahbap Association. However, I only shared their IBANs and phone numbers just like other institutions and associations. Likewise, I was appreciated by AFAD with a Certificate of Appreciation due to these aids.

I have no information about the financial structure of the Ahbap Association, the amount of donations collected, or how these donations were used. We had noted down the figures stated by the people who called us and wanted to donate. We estimate that approximately 60,000,000 TL was donated to Ahbap, AFAD, and Kızılay. However, this estimate is based on the figures noted down based on the numbers stated by the people who called us. Of course, it is impossible for us to know whether people donated in these amounts or whether they made any donations at all. In addition, we shared this estimate on all our social media accounts along with our other aids that we were able to record in 2023.

I did not have any suspicion that the donations made to the Ahbap Association were used for purposes other than their intended purpose. I did not witness any irregularity either. Since I had no connection with any association or Haluk LEVENT, we did not have information beyond the news in the media.

I brought Babala TV to life on YouTube. My dream was for this to be the new media. It was not enough for me to just broadcast. I wanted it to contain many formats and content. As it grew, I wanted more employees. To summarize, I wanted to compete with mainstream media. For this reason, I decided that we needed to be a company.

However, since neither I nor my family had been involved in trade in the past, I asked for a company to be established in the name of my mother, whom I saw as the person I trusted the most. Thus, even if we received advertisements thanks to me, this company would take control, both our employees' salaries would be paid and a fee would be determined for me. Later, when Babala TV's content started to shift to political content and started to put social events in the first place, unfortunately, our entertaining content started to look absurd among these depressing videos.

For this reason, I launched Babalayka TV on YouTube, where I thought we should only make entertaining content. Of course, since I wanted Babalayka to progress like a TV channel just like Babala, we decided to establish a company for this as well. Since I knew that we would not be able to grow much financially or engage in trade, I handed over this company establishment business and the channel to someone from my family, that is, my brother. The reason for the financial traffic between Babalayka TV and Babala is that the Babala team supports Babalayka formats, or Babalayka TV passes its content advertisements to Babala TV.

Since they are two channels that I do not distinguish from each other, I naturally included both of my channels in the business while holding format, advertising, and content meetings. Since Babala TV had debts, I was supporting Babala TV with a transaction I made on Babalayka TV, and I was trying to support Babalayka TV with a transaction I made on Babala TV. Every transaction has an invoice and a source. Osis is a media company that I opened with İlker AYRIK and his partners for Babala TV to grow even more. In this way, I calculated to use Osis's media facilities for Babala TV as well. The viewing revenues of Babala TV's YouTube channel have been shared among these four partners since 2021. The Babala TV company is a family company that belongs to my mother.'

News Source: 12punto