'Fund crisis' statement from Özgür Özel: We are facing the robbery of the century

NEW Party Chairman Özgür Özel made a statement after the October 10 Ankara Station Massacre case hearing.

"WE ARE FACED WITH THE ROBBERY, CORRUPTION AND FRAUD OF THE CENTURY"

When asked about AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's evaluations regarding the 'fund crisis', Özel said the following:

"Dear friends, it was talked about internally, it is almost always said when crimes against humanity are talked about. If a crime against humanity is committed somewhere, it is said that either there is no state or there are many states. This is a very important point to discuss the responsibility of the state, let us remind you that. Now, here in Turkey, we are faced with an issue where the state either does not exist or there is a lot of it. Here too, there is a lot of state. There are many people who have served in the state, who have served in the government, who have worked in the palace, and they instill confidence in people because they are among them." They robbed 455 thousand unique users, half of whom were 3.5 million of the 7 million investors in Turkey, with small amounts of money under 10 thousand liras, which will affect 2 million people who put their money here with the hope of saying 'I wonder if I can buy something in the stock market and pay my debt, pay my credit card, pay my rent?' We are facing the robbery of the century, the corruption of the century, the fraud of the century. Our Coordination Council is approaching it with great care. I would like to draw attention to two events here.

REACTION TO ERDOĞAN'S STATEMENT

One of them is the statement made by Mr. Erdoğan yesterday. Turkey's economy was strong, there were no risks in Turkey, the stock market was safe and Türkiye was a reliable country in this sense. And what kind of a reliable country is it? They openly defrauded 2 million people in the country. Moreover, the people on your right, left, next to you, in your cabinet said, 'Sir, they are investing their money in TERA Fund, TERA Fund is theirs, its management is theirs' and trusted them, especially the people who are very close to you, most of whom voted for you, they trusted you, put money here and were outright robbed. Where is safe for these people? There is a situation where the tiny savings or certain savings of 2 million people have been eliminated.

CALL TO THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND MASAK

Here, the Minister of Finance and MASAK, which is affiliated with him, have a very important responsibility. MASAK needs to do its part quickly. We said that those who took action regarding the closed period should be reported to the prosecutor's office by MASAK. There has been a positive development in this regard. While we follow him closely, today morning the Minister of Justice, the justice bureaucracy is very associated with this fund. There are some names, we will discuss and talk about them in detail in the future. It is important whether they are included in MASAK reports or not. Now, by opening a minimum and civilian espionage case and mentioning former MASAK presidents and MASAK employees, the timing of this investigation with the ongoing investigation is making a significant move. We need to draw attention to this, we need to underline it.

"IT SHOULD BE COLLECTED FROM THEM AND DISTRIBUTED TO THE VICTIMS"

No matter who this job reaches, they must be held accountable. In this period, that is, not after 2024; It is necessary to look from the day the fund was established, from 2021 when the fund was established, from the first transaction. It is necessary to keep people aside and not keep them secret. We repeat our concrete suggestion once again. Just as America solved this problem by collecting the money from those who earned this money in the past and distributing it to the victims; Likewise, this problem needs to be solved in Turkey as well. "It needs to be collected from each of the people in the AK Party, who earned that big money from here in the past, together with their assets, and distributed to the victims."

WHAT DID ERDOĞAN SAY?

Making a statement regarding the issue yesterday, President Erdoğan used the following statements:

"We are talking about a problem that occurs in a limited area of the capital markets, in a certain number of funds. In other words, there is no risk to either our financial system or the Turkish economy. Painting this as a problem for the entire market would be an injustice to the Turkish Stock Exchange.

All necessary steps are being taken and will be taken within the framework of capital market principles and law. Our relevant institutions are pursuing the issue with determination. Our judiciary likewise launched a comprehensive investigation; There were some detentions and arrests.

I would like this to be known: Anyone who is responsible will be held accountable before the law. There should not be the slightest hesitation on this matter. No matter what, no one has the right to compete to grab logs from the flood or to make our people uneasy. Of course, it is important that the process is carried out both transparently and extremely sensitively, due to the structure of capital markets. Our instruction is also in this direction. "In addition, we will ensure that whatever measures are needed, including legal and administrative regulations, are implemented to prevent a similar problem from occurring again."