09.05.2026 00:20
The statement given by CHP Mayor Özkan Yalım, who was arrested and suspended from duty in the 'bribery' investigation targeting Uşak Municipality, under the effective remorse provisions has been revealed. Yalım claimed that he gave a total of 1.2 million TL to Özgür Özel before the congress held at the end of 2023 in the CHP. According to the statement, Yalım alleged that he left 200,000 TL in a bag on the garden wall of Özel's house in Manisa, and delivered 1 million TL to a person named "Demirkan" on Özel's instruction.
After being arrested on charges of "forming an organization for the purpose of committing crimes," "rigging tenders of public institutions or organizations," and "extortion and bribery through coercion," CHP's Uşak Mayor Özkan Yalım, who was suspended from duty, gave a statement under the provisions of effective remorse.
"I HELPED FACILITATE PAYMENTS BY SHOWING THE WIVES OF 2 FOOTBALL PLAYERS AS PERMANENT STAFF AT THE MUNICIPALITY"
In his statement to the prosecutor's office, Özkan Yalım said, "To assist with payments for football players included in the Uşakspor squad, as far as I remember, I showed 10 out of 24 players as municipal workers for certain periods, ensuring they received salaries from here, and I arranged for the payment of the portion offset against the salary due to them. I similarly helped facilitate payments by showing the wives of 2 football players as permanent municipal staff. One of them actually worked at the municipality for a while, but the other did not work at all. As support for the amateur basketball team named 'İlkler Şehri' in Uşak, approximately 1 million 400 thousand lira per month was provided from the municipal budget for about 3-4 months. Of this monthly payment of 1 million 400 thousand lira, 400 thousand lira was used for the basketball team. However, about 1 million lira of the monthly payment was paid to offset the remaining payments for Uşakspor football players. Uşakspor has a joint-stock company structure."
"THESE WERE CASH DONATIONS COMING TO UŞAKSPOR"
Yalım said, "Since I sometimes made payments to Uşakspor football players from my personal budget, I later paid a portion of the cash donations collected for Uşakspor, corresponding to the payments I had previously made, as salaries to my own company employees. These were cash donations coming under the name of donations to Uşakspor. However, I would take a portion of these donations to cover the remaining receivables from payments I had previously made in cash from my personal account. I may have used these for payments to employees of my own company, Yalım Garden. At times, when I was short of cash for SGK payments belonging to my personal company Yalımlar, I would take these from the donations coming to Uşakspor to offset my previous receivables, deposit them into my accounts, and use them to pay my company's insurance debts."
"I AM VERY SORRY AND WANT TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGE CAUSED"
Yalım said, "I had a romantic relationship with a person named Ebru Y. for about 2-3 months. She worked at Uşak Municipality for about 3 months. After I returned from Ankara to Uşak and became mayor, Ebru Y. started working at the municipality. She was working as a secretary in the private office. During our romantic relationship, I bought an apartment with the intention of living together, with 50% of the shares registered in my name and 50% in Ebru Y.'s name on the title deed. However, neither of us ever lived in this apartment. I paid for the apartment from my personal account. I instructed that 4 carpets be sent to this apartment, which we bought from a municipal affiliate company with the aim of staying together. I told my driver Murat A. to go to the house, collect the carpets, and take them to our apartment in the complex. Murat A. took the carpets to the apartment, and they were laid there. As far as I remember, I did not sign any document regarding the receipt of these carpets or their use in our own home. The carpets woven in the municipal building are hand-woven carpets specific to Uşak. As far as I remember, these carpets cost around 5 thousand lira per square meter. I am very sorry for this and would like to pay for the damage caused."
"IT IS TRUE THAT GÜLŞAH DURBAY AND ÖZGÜR ÖZEL ATE TOGETHER AT MY HOTEL'S RESTAURANT"
Yalım said, "At my hotel in Uşak, CHP deputies or deputy general chairmen occasionally stay depending on their routes. However, since I do not charge these people, no records are opened in their name at the hotel, no ID copies are taken, and no notification is made to the police. The rooms provided for their use are reserved under my name. Sometimes these guests stay at the hotel this way, and sometimes they use it for short rest, dressing, or dining before attending programs. Also, the general chairman has stayed at my hotel about 7-8 times, as far as I remember, since our acquaintance dates back about 10 years. It is true that former Şehzadeler Mayor Gülşah Durbay and Özgür Özel ate together at my hotel's restaurant in the past, but I have no information about whether there was a romantic relationship between them, apart from rumors."
"I GAVE ÖZGÜR ÖZEL 200 THOUSAND LIRA AND 1 MILLION LIRA IN CASH"
Yalım said, "I had sent a gift bag each to Özgür Özel's daughter and wife because a friend of mine makes bags. Later, Özgür Özel called me and asked for another bag. I think he wanted this bag to give as a gift to a woman he liked. Around 2019, I bought a watch for my own use, whose brand I don't remember now, but worth about 5-6 thousand lira at that time. When I was in parliament, group chairman Özgür Özel said he really liked the watch, so I bought another one of the same watch and gave it to him as a gift. Later, during a speech in Manisa, because he was wearing this watch, high figures were reported in the press about it, so Özgür Özel called me, and I told him it was worth about 5-6 thousand lira at that time. This watch was gifted by me. At the end of 2023, I gave 200 thousand lira and 1 million lira in cash to Özgür Özel, then CHP group chairman, to be used for the expenses of congresses held before the party convention. I took the 200 thousand lira in cash to Özgür Özel's house in Manisa. When I approached the house, I called Özgür Özel. He told me to leave the money in a bag on the garden wall of the house. I did as he said, left the 200 thousand lira in a bag on the garden wall for Özgür Özel to pick up, and left. I delivered the 1 million lira in cash in a bag to a person named Demirkan, whom I know as a close friend of Özgür Özel, near the CHP provincial headquarters in Denizli, on Özgür Özel's instructions."
"I WORKED TO GET ÖZGÜR ÖZEL ELECTED AS GENERAL CHAIRMAN BY TALKING TO DELEGATES"
Yalım said, "I gave the money to be used for the expenses of congresses held before the convention. During the period when I was a convention delegate, I also talked to delegates to convince them and worked to elect Özgür Özel as general chairman."
On the day I was detained in Ankara, Seher A., who was in the same room as me, is a regular employee of the municipality. On the day of the incident, the phone seized from Seher A. belonged to me, and there were two SIM cards in it. One of these SIM cards is registered under my company name, and the other belongs to the municipality, so I gave this phone to Seher A. before the search to take it to the municipality. She had no intention of committing any crime in this regard."
"I LEARNED THAT I WAS EXPELLED FROM THE PARTY FROM THE PRESS"
Yalım said, "As of yesterday, a letter from the CHP headquarters was delivered to me in prison. The content of the letter stated that I needed to submit my defense within 7 days from the notification of the letter. However, I learned that I was expelled on Sunday, May 3, from the press. My expulsion from the party was carried out irregularly without taking my defense. I believe that this expulsion, made on the 3rd, was due to the fact that the Republican People's Party will go into the field across Turkey starting from May 4 to carry out activities. Before that date, I think I was hastily expelled irregularly without my defense being taken. I had already submitted my resignation letter from the Republican People's Party to the headquarters with a receipt on April 28 or 29. However, my letter was not taken into account, and my expulsion from the party was carried out irregularly. I have sincerely told everything I know within the scope of effective remorse. I regret mixing my private life with my duty as mayor. Furthermore, if the public loss caused by my mistakes is determined, I want to pay it." said.