Intermédiaires et marchandages pour obtenir un permis d’ouverture d’une mine dans une forêt d’Istanbul
A report appearing on the T24 news website on Tuesday claimed that Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu helped some businessmen to obtain a permit for a mining facility in an İstanbul forest.
The website’s claim refers to recordings of telephone conversations that have led a prosecutor to call for the minister’s immunity to be removed as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption and bribery that has implicated other government ministers.
According to the tapes, a businessman, identified as Adem Peker, applied to the Kanlıca Forestry Department for a permit to open a mining facility in forestland. The department refused to approve the permit, stating that the area is not appropriate for such an operation. The businessman then applied to the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs to obtain the permit, but the ministry also turned down the application. Undeterred, the businessman then contacted businessmen Cengiz Aktürk and Osama Khoutub to ask them for help in obtaining the permit. Peker allegedly promised to give the businessmen 50 percent of the mining facility’s shares if they helped him obtain the permit.
Aktürk and Khoutub then contacted Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) President İlker Aycı to secure his support in obtaining the mining permit. As a result, these businessmen finally managed to obtain the permit.
According to the tapes, Aycı made a phone call to Eroğlu to thank him after obtaining the permit. On the recording, the ISPAT president allegedly says: “I’d like to thank you about this mining issue. The gentleman called you yesterday, I think. He called me, too. He asked me details about this issue. I’d like to thank you. You supported us a lot in completing the job in time.” T24 claimed that Aycı was referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan when he said “the gentleman.” In response, Eroğlu said that he wished the best for them.
