Writer Ergün Poyraz claims he was attacked for investigating irregular tender

Photo: AA

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Attacked by multiple people in front of his house in Kuşadası, Aydın, writer Ergün Poyraz has been discharged from intensive care.

Speaking to reporters about the attack, Poyraz blamed a company that recently received a contract to provide crushed stones to the municipality.

Before the attack, someone called him and told him they had hit his car, he said. "I went and took a look at it. The headlight was broken, but it didn't look like it was broken by being hit [by another car]. Because there were no scratches on the car.

"While I was looking at it confused, one person from the side, one from the back and one from the right, attacked. When I fell on the ground, they wanted to run over me.

"The most interesting part is that the number that called me and the car were revealed to be belonging to the company."

The tender

He had been investigating a contract between the company and the Kuşadası District Municipality for the procurement of 750,000 tons of crushed stones, he said.

"It is clear that such a tender cannot happen. They gave 300 days to the company. Now it's been maybe 500 days, but there are no crushed stones at all.

"Not a single compressor went to the place where the crushed stones would be made. Also, it is impossible to make crushed stones out of the stones in that area."

After he submitted a petition to the municipality about the issue, the owner of the company threatened him and his spouse on social media while his petition remained unanswered, claimed Poyraz.

What happened?

Poyraz was beaten by a group of people in front of his house on Monday (April 11). He was taken to intensive care at Söke Fehime Faik Kocagöz State Hospital due to a crack in his skull.

The police detained six people in relation to the incident. Two of the detainees identified by their initials T.B. and Z.B. were revealed to be executives of the company.

On the same day, it was revealed that he had been threatened by speaking out about corruption in Kuşadası. In a letter of notice he sent, he expressed some allegations about the construction company named ZBT, which won 15 of the last 17 tenders of the municipality. (HA/VK)