Şişli Mayor says Sarıgül forced him to resign with death threats

Gülden Aydın ISTANBUL

‘I understood he hired people to chase me and my family. I was scared. Sarıgül told me to sign my resignation,’ Şişli Mayor İnönü says. AA Photo

Mayor of Istanbul’s Şişli Municipality Hayri İnönü and his wife, Nazlı İnönü, gave their testimonies to the Istanbul Public Prosecutor on Dec. 30, 2014 concerning claims that they received threats on their lives by former Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül.

Prosecutor Hadi Salihoğlu demanded the couple give their testimonies after Nazlı İnönü told daily Hürriyet in an interview that they received death threats from Sarıgül.

During the hours-long testimony, İnönü, who was elected from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in the March 30, 2014 elections in the central Istanbul district, told the anti-terror prosecutor he was forced by Sarıgül to sign his resignation during a private meeting.

“Sarıgül told me ‘You have cost a lot to me. I have arranged a mafia for hire in New York for $750,000. Nobody will find your bones, or those of your wife, children and relatives.’ Then he showed me my children’s addresses in Detroit. I understood he hired people to chase me and my family. I was scared.

Sarıgül took out paper and a pen and told me to sign my resignation. I told them that my son was to marry on Dec. 27 and asked if I could resign after that date. He approved. Then I signed the paper with the date of Jan. 5, 2015,” İnönü reportedly told the prosecutor.

“On Nov. 4, 2014 I attended the CHP group meeting. I met with CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu before the group meeting. I stayed at my aunt’s house that night. With the guidance of CHP Deputy Aydın Ayaydın, I got into a car sent by Sarıgül on Nov. 5 and I met with him at his house in Angora residences. Ayaydın told me that he would come too, but he didn’t,” said İnönü to the prosecutor to explain about that day.