Charity Begins at (Our) Home

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 9 January 2021)

              Philanthropists who donate to themselves.

Thirteen individuals have been accused of selling thousands of coats, 

sweaters, pants and other clothes for the needy in neighborhood 

bazaars.  Emrah Aytar, the former coordinator of the Turkish Kızılay 

(like the Red Cross) Sancaktepe, Istanbul, office and his father, a 

salesman, diverted the clothes from the Kızılay depot to sell them

in the bazaars.

After six months of technical and physical surveillance, Gendarmerie

teams determined that since 2007 (!) Aytar and his father have rented 

six or seven depots, although there is a Kızılay depot in Sancaktepe.  

More than 100 TIR (tractor-trailers) full of donated clothes were sent 

to these depots and from there to the bazaars for sale in places like

Pendik and Çekmeköy in Istanbul, and to Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Edirne

and Kocaeli Kartepe.  Five or six people sold the clothes for a wage

of between 100-150 TL per day (about 20-30 cents).  The total 

amount of money from the sales came to between 7-8,000 TL each

day and was turned over to İsmail Hakkı Aytar or his son Emrah.

According to the indictment, the clothes in the depots in Sancaktepe

and Sultanbeyli were removed late at night and care was taken to 

cut off any barcodes or labels.  However, the Gendarmerie teams

tracked the goods to the bazaars and bought some clothes as 

evidence.

The 13 suspects taken into custody included Emrah Aytar (33),

İsmail Hakkı Aytar (71) and his former wife Hatun Yalçın (57),

along with the former chief of the Kızılay Sancaktepe office, Cihan

Yalçın (52).  Also, Yalçın's sister Himaye Özdemir (47), who 

cleaned his office, and relatives Kadir Yalçın (41), Tazebey Daşdemir

(41), Veysel Çiçek (39), Salih Yavuz (49), Özcan Bayraktaroğlu (44),

Mehmet Karagöz (47) and his brother Mustafa Karagöz (42).  

                               Whoops! Wrong depot!

Other than Hatun Yalçın and Özcan Bayraktaroğlu, eleven suspects

were jailed and nine of them were released after the first hearing of

the case.  At the second hearing the day before yesterday, Emrah

Aytar and his father's incarceration were continued.  They denied

guilt and Emrah Aytar asserted that the clothes sold at the bazaars

belonged to him.

In searches of the suspects' homes the Gendarmerie teams found

large amounts of money and gold in the home of İsmail Hakkı

Aytar and his ex-wife Hatun Yalçın: 70,000 TL, 22 gold coins,

20 gold earrings, 14 bracelets, 9 gold  wristbands and many other

gold items.   Cihan Yalçın, who is Hatun hamın's younger brother, 

had 1 million TL in a bank account that he claimed was profit from 

his work as a hairdresser (!).   

The suspects and the lawyers wanted the hold on these items lifted

by the court but the judge said "There's 4 trillion worth of damage

here! Have you no conscience!" and rejected their pleas. 

Hilmi Yazıcı (48), who took over as the Sancaktepe Kızılay office

chief two years ago, filed a complaint with the Gendarmerie.  He

said that the Gendarmerie called him back about their operation

and when the Gendarmerie teams came to Sancaktepe district they

had Yazıcı show them the "korsan" (pirate) depots where the 

clothes were stored.  Yazıcı claimed he had no knowledge of these

depots beforehand and was "shocked" when he saw the clothes

there.

                        Sancaktepe district of Istanbul