The statement of Erden Timur at the prosecutor's office has emerged.

29.12.2025 18:50

The statement of former Galatasaray Sportif A.Ş. Vice President Erden Timur has emerged. In his statement, Timur said, "The friends from the police told me that Veysel Şahin bought a house from my project in 2014-2015. They informed me that an operation would be carried out against Veysel and instructed me to delay the title deed transfer process. Based on this, I did not deliver the title deed. Veysel Şahin had deposited the money in 26 installments into the company account."

As part of the 'betting in football' investigation, 26 suspects, including former Galatasaray Sportif AŞ Vice President Erden Timur, Eyüpspor Vice President Fatih Kulaksız, and Turkey Football Federation (TFF) Director of Foreign Relations and National Teams Administrative Director Buğra Cem İmamoğulları, were detained in a simultaneous operation conducted in 11 provinces. After their procedures at the police station, the suspects were referred to the courthouse.

'THE MONEY IS STILL IN THE BTE COMPANY'

In his statement to the prosecutor's office, Erden Timur said, "I heard the name Veysel Şahin when information came from the Istanbul Police Department. Generally, I do not know the buyers as I sell between 3,000 to 4,000 apartments annually. I heard his name because the friends from the police told me that Veysel Şahin is an illegal betting baron. I learned that I sold 24 apartments, each 57 square meters, to Veysel Şahin in 2014-2015. The friends at the police said that Veysel Şahin bought a house from my project in 2014-2015. They told me that an operation would be conducted against Veysel and that I should delay the title deed transfer. Accordingly, I did not deliver the title deed. Veysel Şahin had deposited the money into the company account in 26 installments. However, I do not remember whether he paid all the installments at that time, but it appears to be paid now. I received this money from Veysel, and the money is still in the BTE company we transferred in 2023. The reason I have not returned it is that there has been no request from judicial authorities regarding this money. Additionally, I have no obligation to return this money," he said.

'I BORROWED 220 KILOGRAMS OF GOLD FROM MY FATHER'

Continuing his statement, Timur said, "I fell into a difficult situation due to rising inflation during the COVID period. During this process, I borrowed gold-indexed money worth 4-5 million TL from acquaintances and my father, and I bought approximately 220 kilograms of physical gold. This amount is equivalent to 1-2 months of my company's expenses. I physically received this debt and gold. I made the payment in cash to my father within the last year. The reason for buying gold is both to accumulate gold and to pay off my gold debt to my father. I also borrowed gold from the jeweler. The money traffic in question stems from this. The debt protocols were signed about 1-1.5 years ago. The reason the protocol is undated is that I had to force my father to sign this document," he said.

'MURAT ÖZKAYA INITIATED ENFORCEMENT PROCEEDINGS'

In his statement, Timur said, "I have known Murat Özkaya since 2018. My actual acquaintance was in 2022. He wanted to buy real estate from one of my projects. He gave our company a down payment and ten sequential checks. He was interested in selecting real estate for 3 months, but when he could not choose any, he later stated through a notice that he was withdrawing from the agreement. Then he initiated enforcement proceedings against the company and me. The reason for initiating enforcement proceedings in my name is that the land is registered in my name. We have a debt and settlement protocol between us. Additionally, we made a promissory note regarding this debt in 2024, and we paid these debts. Murat Özkaya made the payments for the mentioned real estate both through Metal Oto and his personal account," he said.

'I HAD SEEN FATIH KULAKSIZ TWICE BEFORE'

Continuing his statement, Timur said, "I had seen Fatih Kulaksız twice before. Although I have no commercial relationship with Fatih, I have no commercial relationship other than the real estate purchase mentioned with Murat. In 2021-2022, I transferred the lands registered in my name to the company. I have 40 companies registered in my name. After 2021-2022, I have also had properties registered in my name, and later I transferred the amounts obtained from the transactions to the company. Most recently, a few months ago, I transferred the land registered in my name to the company. The money deposited into my account was automatically transferred to the company account. The money transferred to my personal account is related to the sales we made as a result of the company's project regarding the land," he said.

'WE PURCHASED APPROXIMATELY 144 MILLION TL WORTH OF TOKENS ON A CRYPTO ASSET PLATFORM'

In the continuation of his statement, Timur said, "In 2023, about 5-6 months ago, my companies were audited by officials from the Ministry of Commerce. No issues were found except for simple contract clause errors. We have letters from the ministry regarding this. Although the cash deposited into my personal account in 2024 is seen as large amounts, it is actually equivalent to the company's monthly expenses. The cash deposited into my account comes from the debts I have taken. In the past, only profit distributions were transferred to my account for debt payments. Through my partnership in Timur Real Estate Development Construction and Investment Inc., we purchased approximately 144 million TL worth of investment tokens on the crypto asset platform named OKX TR in 2024-2025. We did not involve anyone as an intermediary in this purchase transaction. Although it has been determined that a portion of the 1 million dollars sent to the crypto asset platform in the company's name was sent by Akın Topal, I do not remember this. Topal is both a contractor and my childhood friend. He also acts as a subcontractor for my companies. The names of Topal's companies are Merkez Girişim and MTU Real Estate. We have had a debt exchange with Topal for about 3-4 years. The sales transactions of the shops within the scope of the Nef 22 project belonged to Hasan Peker. Since we are the project owners, we were making the real estate sales promise contract, but the money to be obtained from here did not belong to us. A person named Volkan Altunbaş sold a boat to Hasan Peker and was supposed to buy a shop from this project in return. When Volkan sold the boat to Hasan Peker, Volkan's relatives placed a precautionary measure on the boat, claiming that the property was hidden due to inheritance. As a result, Hasan PEKER delayed the title transfer from the sale of this shop.

'I DO NOT HAVE MEMBERSHIP IN LEGAL OR ILLEGAL BETTING SITES'

In his statement, Timur said, "A criminal complaint was filed, but we received a decision of non-prosecution in all of them. In fact, all our commercial books were examined due to this incident, and no irregularities were found. The only project we did with the Pekerler Group was Nef 22. They were already the landowners. After this date, we had no other commercial relationship. I do not have membership in legal or illegal betting sites. I have no involvement or witness in any match-fixing incident. I do not know Veysel ŞAHİN. It is not possible for me to know whether the people to whom I sold the apartment have a criminal record. At the time of sale, no one knew Veysel Şahin. I never thought questions would be asked about Veysel Şahin. The sales of these apartments are carried out by the manager we designated as the signatory in the company. It is not possible for us to be involved in all sales. When we make even the slightest increase in zoning, it is clear that we will earn more than three times the total of these specified amounts. I have conducted my business honestly to this day. Additionally, I have been helping people through a foundation with amounts many times greater than those specified in the report, which I have never reported to any place until today. Indeed, in the independent audit conducted, we canceled sales worth over 20 billion lira in the last 3.5 years. I do not accept the accusations against me. In audits conducted by independent organizations, my company has always ranked high within the country. My company operates in 6 different countries. My company is a large structure in both national and international fields. The specified amounts are less than the company's monthly expenses. Although I stated in the flow of the statement that I did not return the money I received from Veysel Şahin, the mentioned money was not returned because the judicial authorities did not cancel or request it from me. I have not made any application to any authority either. In fact, I am not obliged to do so under consumer law," he said.