Rojda Altıntaş, a correspondent for Demirören News Agency (DHA), has alleged she faced pressure and intimidation from her employer after reporting on a story regarding a car accident that implicated the family of DHA owner Yıldırım Demirören.
The car crash, which took place in early March, had been heavily covered in the Turkish press after the suspects allegedly responsible for the accident fled abroad.
Now, the story has received renewed attention after the recording of a phone call between Altıntaş and the chauffeur of Revna Demirören, Yıldırım Demirören’s wife, surfaced on social media on Sunday (May 5). The recording appears to show Demirören’s chauffeur intimidating Altıntaş and requesting that she refrain from publishing the story out of fear that it would implicate individuals close to the Demirören family.
March 1st car crash
On the evening of Friday, March 1, a car crash in İstanbul’s Eyüpsultan district claimed the life of Oğuz Murat Acı. Acı had moved his SUV to the side of the road after it broke down and turned on the vehicle’s emergency lights. Two other SUVs were reportedly also stopped next to Acı’s.
Acı was mortally wounded when the group of three stopped SUVs was hit by a car driven by 18-year-old Timur Cihantimur. Acı, along with three other injured individuals, was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Cihantimur reportedly fled the scene with his mother, Eylem Tok. The two then went to the İstanbul Airport in the early hours of March 2, where they boarded a plane headed to Egypt. In mid-March, following a report from the Turkish Justice Ministry indicating they had fled to the United States, the two were spotted in New York City.
Allegations implicate Demirören
In mid-March, allegations surfaced that Cemal Demirören, the son of DHA owner Yıldırım Demirören, had been riding in one of the vehicles involved in the crash. Demirören denied these allegations, saying that his son had been attending school abroad at the time of the accident.
In phone call recordings from shortly after the accident released this past Sunday (May 5), a chauffer of the Demirören family appeared to request that DHA correspondent Rojda Altıntaş not publish news incriminating Timur Cihantimur, saying that Cihantimur was a close childhood friend of one of Demirören’s sons.
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DHA ended up publishing a story regarding the accident two days later without mentioning any of the names involved.
Altınaş alleges intimidation, silencing
In a social media post yesterday (May 6) Altıntaş alleged that she had been subject to intimidation and silencing by her employer following her attempts to report on the accident. Saying that her desire to clear her conscience had overcome her fear of losing her job, Altıntaş took credit for posting the phone call recordings on Sunday.
Regarding her silence following the incident, Altıntaş said: “Out of concern for my family, I chose to stay silent for eight weeks.”
DHA head issues response
In a response to Altıntaş’s allegations of intimidation and silencing, DHA Editor-in-chief Celal Korkut issued a statement saying he had been unable to reach Altıntaş since she came forward with the allegations:
“If she had been subject to intimidation, I would have expected her to share this information with me. Additionally, I would have told her that we would continue reporting on the incident regardless. As her superior, I request that she come forward immediately and continue her work from where she left off.”
In his statement, Korkut also defended DHA’s and its partner channels’ coverage of the original car crash, saying that the topic had been covered adequately and openly.
Turkey pursues extradition of Cihantimur, Tok
Following their flight to Egypt, Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç issued a warrant for the arrest of Timur Cihantimur and his mother Eylem Tok.
Following this arrest warrant, however, officials from İnterpol in Egypt announced that the pair had left the country bound for the United States.
According to a statement from Tunç, the Justice Ministry is currently pursuing the extradition of both individuals from the United States to Turkey.
Written by Leo Kendrick
