Antep Mayor Şahin remains silent to violence against journalist on live broadcast

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Muharrem Sarıkaya, the Ankara representative of Habertürk, slapped İhlas News Agency (İHA) reporter Ahmet Demir in the face while interviewing Fatma Şahin, the Metropolitan Mayor of Antep from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Friday (December 17).

Amid public outrage over the incident, Sarıkaya first apologized for his behavior, then announced his resignation on Twitter:

"I apologize to the entire public who reacted against the incident and to my colleagues and family for making them go through such an incident. As of today, I have resigned from office as the Ankara Representative of the Ciner Media Group. Yours respectfully," he has written on his Twitter account: 

Olaya tepki gösteren tüm kamuoyundan, meslektaşlarımdan ve ailemden, onlara böyle bir olayı yaşattığım için de özür diliyorum. Bugün itibarıyla Ciner Medya Grubu Ankara Temsilciliği görevinden ayrılmış bulunuyorum. Saygılarımla.

— MUHARREM SARIKAYA (@msarikaya6) December 20, 2021

In the video footage posted yesterday (December 19), it is seen that Muharrem Sarıkaya slapped reporter Ahmet Demir, who was trying to solve the problem with the phone and cables during the broadcast.

Later in the video, Sarıkaya is seen to be asking for something from the ones around him while Mayor Fatma Şahin remains unresponsive and continues speaking to Sarıkaya as part of the interview.

The above camera footage is from the live broadcast on December 17.

Two days after the incident happened, the İhlas News Agency (İHA) shared the video footage with its subscribers with the headline, "Journalist Muharrem Sarıkaya attacked the İHA reporter with a slap."

Sarıkaya apologized

After the video was widely shared on social media and caused a public outcry, Sarıkaya has made a statement on social media and apologized to everyone. Saying that "he lost his control for a moment in the face of technical issues that recurred during the live broadcast and made the broadcast problematic as well", Sarıkaya admitted that "he acted in such a way that he should not have been acting in the first place and that was not worthy of him or the institution that he represents."

According to his statement, he "separately apologized to İHA camera operator Mr. Ahmet Demir and İHA Regional Director Mr. Orhan Akın after the broadcast ended." Sarıkaya said that "he reiterated his apologies to both of them on the phone, admitting that what he did was a mistake."

"As the issue has become public", Sarıkaya has "apologized to İHA camera operator Mr. Ahmet Demir, İHA Regional Director Mr. Orhan Akın and Ms. Metropolitan Mayor of Gaziantep Fatma Şahin, who witnessed the incident, before the public without any excuses..."

'His behavior has no explanation'

After the video started circulating on social media, Habertürk has also made a statement about the issue.

The media outlet has "sincerely apologized to İHA Gaziantep camera operator, his family, the institution that he works for and the entire public on behalf of the Habertürk over the behavior of Muharrem Sarıkaya, which is unacceptable and for which there is no explanation."

'It has offended me'

Attending the Weekend News Bulletin of TGRT News program, Ahmet Demir recounted the incident as follows:

"We were there for the broadcast. We, as the İHA, did our all checks and eliminated all issues. Before the broadcast started, there had to be a phone connection between Mr. Sarıkaya and the broadcast control room. We gave him a phone, but he wanted to use his own.

"There was a problem with the connection in his phone during the broadcast. He was making gestures at us during the broadcast.

"And I went to him with a phone and earphones to help him with the problem. But for a reason that I did not know, he carried out this ugly attack. I was shocked and I did not know what to do."

Speaking to daily Cumhuriyet as well, reporter Demir said, "Even though it was not my duty, I handled the situation and gave him my phone. Then, he made this move to me. It offended me so much that I could not do anything and the person in front of you did nothing."

Ahmet Demir added, "He tried to apologize to me. My director insistently wanted me to accept it and I accepted it, respecting his age. But I met with my lawyer. I will take legal action as I have been offended. I will file a lawsuit on Tuesday (tomorrow, December 21)."

Fatma Şahin: It was wrong

Antep Mayor Fatma Şahin has also posted a message on social media by sharing a screenshot of the tweet where Sarıkaya apologized.

"The reaction of Muharrem Sarıkaya during the Habertürk TV live broadcast was very wrong, as he has also said himself," Şahin has written on Twitter and briefly added: "We talked among ourselves right afterwards and I told him what I thought. As Muharrem Sarıkaya wrote in his own message, he apologized to our friend Ahmet Demir afterwards."

However, Şahin has not said anything about her failure to show any reactions during the live broadcast.

Suit for damages by the agency

Releasing a statement on its official website after the incident, the İhlas News Agency (İHA) has announced that it will file a lawsuit for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages against Muharrem Sarıkaya.

Several press and labor organizations have also denounced Muharrem Sarıkaya's behavior against İHA reporter Ahmet Demir. (HA/SD)