Taner Çukadar, one of 200 defendants in a massive corruption trial of a businessman and a mayor from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said that the other defendants and lawyers sought to “protect the mayor.”
Çukadar was testifying Monday at the hearing of the trial in Istanbul that began last month. His statements were similar to those of two other defendants who claimed Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district Mayor Rıza Akpolat sought to distance himself from the accusations. They also disputed the statements by Aziz İhsan Aktaş, the tycoon at the heart of the probe.
Aktaş and Akpolat were arrested in 2024, along with top municipal bureaucrats in this upscale district of Istanbul. Aktaş was accused of bribing the mayor and bureaucrats to win favors at tenders.
Both men appeared before the court when the trial started last month, Aktaş as a freed detainee thanks to his earlier collaboration with authorities.
Aktaş has rejected corruption claims and claimed the municipal officials forced him to “receive payments for the work he’s done in other forms, sale of a car, or covering the expenses of a wedding banquet.”
He said he was a distant relative of Akpolat and worked as a chauffeur for him in the past. He said the mayor’s lawyers threatened him to expose “gang relations of my 15-year-old son” to testify in favor of Akpolat.
“Akpolat tried to put my son at risk to save himself,” Çukadar told Monday’s hearing. He added that Akpolat accused his colleagues of defaming him, but it was he who defamed other defendants.
He also claimed Akpolat’s defense team sought to divert the blame in the corruption case to former deputy mayor of Beşiktaş, Alican Abacı.
Asked about his suspicious financial transactions with other defendants, Çukadar said Akpolat used his credit card for hotel and flight expenses and paid him back in cash.
In another case, he said the mayor forced him and Abacı to sell several vehicles that the municipality owned.
“When we placed an ad for them, he told us the price we offered was too low. Later, he told us that (Aktaş) would buy the vehicles. “He set a price of TL 15 million for two vehicles and I arranged the formal sale of these vehicles,” he said.
His statements corroborated with Aktaş’s earlier claims that he was “paid in vehicles” in return of debts of municipalities.
At Monday’s hearing, defendant Harun Tuzcu told the court he worked as a driver for the Beşiktaş Municipality but mostly carried out services for Akpolat’s family rather than working inside the municipality.
Tuzcu alleged that when he was first detained, lawyers of Akpolat intimidated him to keep silent. He later said his subsequent statements were given of his own free will and without pressure.
Over four weeks of proceedings, the court completed the defenses of 162 detained and non-detained defendants. An interim ruling is expected at this week’s hearing.
According to the indictment, the alleged criminal organization led by Aktaş bribed mayors, including Akpolat, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Seyhan Mayor Oya Tekin, Ceyhan Mayor Kadir Aydar, Adana Metropolitan Mayor Zeydan Karalar, who has since been released, and Adıyaman Mayor Abdurrahman Tutdere, who was released and reinstated, to organize tender processes.
