"Beat & Release": With Friends Like This...And His Goons, in Sultangazi

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 10 September 2023)

                                   Bulut & "friend/goon"

Last month, Dursun Bulut (54), who lives in Istanbul's Sarıyer district,

took his car to his friend (!) Özcan T.'s repair shop in Sultangazi.  

Since Özcan T. also dabbles in the real estate business, Bulut told him

that he wanted to sell a plot of land he owns in Beykoz.  A couple of 

days later, Özcan T. told Bulut that he had found two buyers for Bulut's

plot. 

On 7 August, Bulut met with Özcan T. in front of the Hacıosman metro

station in Sarıyer.  From there they went to Sultangazi, where 4 individuals 

in a minivan threatened Bulut with guns and knives, demanding that he 

give them the deed to the plot and sign a promissory note for 25 million TL

(about $930,000) (!).  

Bulut tried to resist but was badly beaten by the four goons.  When Özcan

T.  pulled a gun on him and said "sign or I'll kill you!", Bulut signed a 

promissory note for 1 million TL (about $37,000).  The goons then left

Bulut in the vicinity of Sultangazi Haseki Training and Research Hospital,

warning him that "If you call the police we'll kill you and your family!"

Bulut's son Mert Bulut stated that his father had five breaks in his spine

but had begun to walk again.  He added that the goons had been calling

from various phone numbers for a month demanding more money.

Police have started looking for Özcan T. and the other three goons.