The founder and CEO of a major Turkish technology website was filmed hurling a flower pot at an employee during an argument. Footage of the attack has gone viral online, prompting both parties to issue statements.
Who is the Turkish CEO in the middle of the controversy?
Hakki Alkan, CEO and founder of ShiftDelete, sparked a controversy by throwing a pot full of gravel at his employee Samet Jankovic during an argument in office. ShiftDelete is one of Turkey’s biggest technology news outlets.
CCTV footage of the attack has been viewed over 13 million times on the social media platform X. The video shows the two arguing before Alkan picked up the pebble-filled pot and threw it at Jankovic.
What did the employee say about the attack?
Samet Jankovic had worked for Hakki Alkan for four years. He is the editor-in-chief of ShiftDelete.net.
{{/usCountry}}Samet Jankovic had worked for Hakki Alkan for four years. He is the editor-in-chief of ShiftDelete.net.
{{/usCountry}}Jankovic said he had obtained a medical report and was taking legal action over the incident. “You will pay for this. If you delete those camera recordings, you're not a man. I know they're synced to your phone 24/7,” Samet said in an X post on August 29.
Hakki Alkan’s statement
ShiftDelete CEO Hakki Alkan said he lost his temper and threw a “flower branch” at his employee, not a flower pot. He expressed his gratitude that Jankovic was not harmed in the incident and said he had submitted the footage to investigators.
Alkan’s full statement was published by the news outlet Bianet. You can read it below:
Publishing is a tough business, especially digital publishing. Information flows very quickly, our followers have high expectations, and we have a multitude of platforms to publish on. A busy team puts in incredible effort every day to create informative videos.
Just like medicine or policing, publishing is a 24-hour service. As someone who has been doing this job for 20 years and working with approximately 40 people, I've had some happy times, as well as some sad ones, like the ones we see today.
My brother Samet, who has made great contributions to our publication for 4 years since he first came, and I had an argument about the content that should be published, and this argument came to a point where we were mutually undesirable.
During the argument, I lost control of my temper and threw the stem of a flower I was carrying at his desk, hitting him. Thankfully, he was not harmed. I also provided security personnel with the before and after images of the incident, including security camera footage from inside the office.
It was sad for all of us that Samet and I had a brotherly relationship throughout our working lives and that it had come to this point.
I apologize to my brother Samet and to you all for this situation. I will do everything in my power to manage the stress of our busy work and ensure my teammates can create content in a more peaceful environment. I'm someone who shares every moment with you, so I wanted to share this with you.