19.10.2026 14:13
Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan made his defense at the third hearing of the case in which 19 defendants, 4 of them detained, are being tried, against the opinion requesting a prison sentence of 69.5 to 217 years for him. Özcan, who connected via SEGBİS, said, 'There is no crime, I believe you will issue an acquittal.' Responding to the allegation that money was taken from supermarkets to the foundation with 'We wanted to get a share of the advertising pie,' Özcan will continue his defense in the afternoon.
Tanju Özcan, who was suspended from his post as Mayor of Bolu and arrested, said in his defense at the hearing of the case in which 19 defendants, 4 of them detained, are being tried: 'There is no crime here; I believe you will acquit.'
Within the scope of the investigation into Bolu Municipality, in operations carried out on different dates after February 28, Bolu Mayor Tanju Özcan, Deputy Mayors Süleyman Can and Leyla Beykoz, BOLSEV Board of Directors Member Ali Sarıyıldız, BOLSEV Board of Directors Member Aydan Özdemir, Municipal Council Member Cihan Tutal, the municipality's Financial Services Director Naim Ayhan, and President of the Bolu Manavlar Chamber Mustafa Altındal were arrested. During the trial process, Leyla Beykoz, Aydan Özdemir, Naim Ayhan, and Cihan Tutal were released.
In the indictment prepared by the Bolu Chief Public Prosecutor's Office within the scope of the investigation against 19 defendants, 4 of them detained, including Tanju Özcan, it was requested that Tanju Özcan be sentenced to imprisonment for a total of 90 years 3 months to 263 years 6 months for 6 counts of 'extortion by coercion' for his actions against each victim, 3 counts of 'attempted extortion', 34 counts of 'aggravated fraud', and 1 count of 'bribery'. For detained Deputy Mayor Süleyman Can, imprisonment for a total of 27 years 6 months to 64 years was requested for 5 counts of 'extortion by coercion' and 2 counts of 'attempted extortion', and for Ali Sarıyıldız, Chairman of the BOLSEV Foundation Board of Directors, imprisonment for 72 years 7 months 15 days to 218 years 9 months was requested for 6 counts of 'aiding the crime of extortion', 3 counts of 'attempted aiding the crime of extortion', and 34 counts of 'aggravated fraud'.
UP TO 217 YEARS IMPRISONMENT SOUGHT IN OPINION
At the second hearing of the case opened after the indictment was prepared, held last month, the public prosecutor announced its opinion on the merits. In the opinion, for Tanju Özcan, applying the effective remorse provisions for the crime of 'aggravated fraud' against 32 victims, imprisonment for a total of 69.5 years to 217 years was requested for the crimes of 'extortion by coercion in a continuing manner', 'extortion by coercion', 'attempted extortion by coercion', and 'accepting a bribe'. For the other 18 defendants as well, applying the effective remorse provisions for the crime of 'aggravated fraud', imprisonment at varying rates was requested for the crimes of 'extortion by coercion in a continuing manner', 'extortion by coercion', 'aiding extortion by coercion', 'false testimony', 'protecting the offender', and 'bribery', while it was requested that a decision be made to continue the detention of the detained defendants.
CONNECTED VIA SEGBİS
The hearing of the case continuing at the Bolu 3rd High Criminal Court was held at the Social Sciences High School, which was converted into a courtroom. Tanju Özcan and Süleyman Can were connected remotely via SEGBİS from Ankara Sincan Prison, where they are detained.
Making his defense against the opinion on the merits, Tanju Özcan stated that although he insisted on attending the hearing, he was not brought and his right to a face-to-face defense was taken from him, and said: 'We saw that there are many problems with the opinion. In the victim incident, there is no request regarding the provisions on continuing offenses. Mayoralty is the hardest job. You are responsible for infrastructure, superstructure, everything. When it snows, you worry; when there is a flood, you wander in the water like a frog. There are many mayors who go abroad 30 times a year. I have gone abroad only once. Bolu Municipality grew by 109 percent in dollar terms during my term. During my 7 years as mayor, I was always chosen as the most successful mayor. We did infrastructure and superstructure in the best way, and it was not enough for me; I needed to do something different. I thought, What can I do outside my duty? and by founding the foundation, as a foundation we gave scholarships to hundreds of students. Meanwhile, while saving money and waiting to build a nursing home, our expectation was only for people to say, May God be pleased with you. While expecting this, they said, You engaged in corruption. It is clear where the foundation's money came from, it is clear for whom it was spent; no one says a single penny went into your pocket. There is no suspicion in its expenditures. The prosecutor's office tells us, You collected money from markets by coercion. It says, Where this money went does not concern us; that is not the subject of extortion.'
SAID A PERCEPTION OPERATION WAS CARRIED OUT
In the continuation of his defense, Özcan stated that perception operations were carried out against the municipality and said: 'They asked MASAK; after the detention, the account records of those detained and not detained were examined, and there is no suspicious account movement, and this is why it is not in the indictment. I want you to take this matter into consideration. We took from the rich and gave to the poor. We are shown as one of Turkey's dirtiest municipalities. Ten operations are carried out and perception is created. The municipality is made unable to function.'
ADVERTISING DEFENSE FOR MONEY COLLECTED FROM MARKETS
Özcan, who also made his defense regarding the allegations that money was taken from market officials for the foundation, said: 'It is stated that we exerted coercion in the market incident. What are the prosecutors' bases in the opinion? A meeting was held at the municipality; the date is not clear in the indictment either. No date is specified in the opinion either. We distributed advertising fees to market owners; we said we would provide aid to students. I did not swear at the meeting, and it is said, You exerted coercion by swearing at me. Then it is said that you carried out an inspection. It is said that an advertising agreement was made to generate income for the BOLSEV Foundation. Yes, we did. Markets advertise. We also wanted to get a share from the advertising pie. You will commit extortion and you will do it in writing. There are people to coerce and people not to coerce. We gave it to them so they would convey our proposal to senior management. It is not possible to speak of coercion here. In the extortion crime, the prosecutor tried to extract 5 kilos of oil from a 2-gram fly. There is no crime here; I believe you will acquit.'
As the hearing broke for lunch, Özcan will continue his defense in the afternoon.