10.04.2025 17:01
The requested sentence translated into English is:
The investigation regarding the incident where Cem Köksal, the former CEO of Zorlu Holding, sent an email to all employees on social media stating that the Ramadan Month would not be celebrated has been completed. In the prepared indictment, it was requested that Köksal be sentenced to up to 5 years and 3 months in prison.
INDICTMENT PREPARED REGARDING FORMER CEO CEM KÖKSAL The investigation regarding the incident where former Zorlu Holding CEO Cem Köksal sent a mass email to all employees on social media stating that the Ramadan Month would not be celebrated has been completed. In the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was stated that Ergün Güler, the victim who is the former CEO of the Vestel Group of Companies, sent a mass email containing Ramadan greetings to Vestel employees and managers, as well as to the managers of Zorlu Holding, from his corporate email address. In response to this email, the suspect Köksal sent a mass email stating that the Ramadan Month would not be celebrated to the victim and all users included in the email.
In the prepared indictment, it was noted that the expressions in the email content of the suspect Köksal exceeded the limits of freedom of expression and criticism, and constituted an unlawful intervention in the lifestyle choices of the victim and other employees based on their beliefs, thoughts, and opinions. Considering the hierarchy between the suspect and the victim, as the victim was the CEO of the company and the suspect was the CEO of Zorlu Holding, it was recorded that the expressions in the message content were suitable for exerting pressure on the victim and Vestel employees, influencing their will, and producing results in line with the suspect's purpose.
Former Zorlu Holding CEO Cem Köksal "ERGÜN GÜLER DID NOT FILE A COMPLAINT" In the indictment, which included the statement of the victim Ergün Güler, it was stated that during his time working at the company, he sent congratulatory messages to all employees and managers during official and religious holidays and special days, and that there had been no warnings or restrictions regarding the messages he had previously sent. It was mentioned that he sent an email from his corporate email address to Vestel employees and managers, as well as to the managers of Zorlu Holding, on the occasion of Ramadan, and that the suspect Köksal sent a reply email starting with "Ergün, Ramadan is not on our list of days to be celebrated corporately..." and continued. It was reported that after seeing this reply email, he called Köksal and told him that what he did was wrong, and he stated that he did not file a complaint against anyone due to the incident.
"MY CRITICISM IS NOT ABOUT THE CONTENT OF THE CELEBRATION" The suspect Köksal stated in his testimony that he prepared the email to send to Ergün Güler, the senior executive of the Vestel group, one of their subsidiaries, but due to mistakenly selecting the "reply all" option, the email was sent to all recipients. After realizing this, he reached out to the head of information technology at their company and requested that the email be retracted, but by the time the procedures were completed, the email had reached many people. He stated that his purpose in sending the email was not to interfere with beliefs and thoughts, that the situations to be celebrated and how to celebrate them were clear according to the procedure, and that his criticism was not about the content of the celebration but related to non-compliance with corporate procedures.
REQUEST FOR UP TO 5 YEARS AND 3 MONTHS IN PRISON In the prepared indictment, it was requested that the suspect Cem Köksal be sentenced to 1 year and 3 months to 5 years and 3 months in prison for the crime of 'preventing the exercise of freedom of belief, thought, and opinion' in a repeated manner. The trial of the suspect will begin in the coming days at the Istanbul Criminal Court of First Instance.