Moroccan embassy refutes Turkish model’s ‘beating’ claims

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The Moroccan Embassy to Turkey in Ankara has refuted claims that a Turkish model was insulted by the ambassador’s wife and beaten by fashion designers at an event organized by the embassy five months ago.

The embassy denied in a written statement allegations by Turkish model Belgin Saydan that she was beaten up by Moroccan fashion designers and verbally insulted by the ambassador’s wife, stating that they had “received the defamatory, slander and gossip themed news report with astonishment.” 

“The flawless flow of the event from the beginning to the end refutes the allegations that rest upon defamation and lies. There was footage, 200 guests, police and security personnel [at the event], and no one, including the officials at CerModern [a venue in Ankara where the event took place], were witnesses to any incident,” read a part of the statement. 

Daily Habertürk reported Oct. 6 that Saydan had filed a lawsuit against the Moroccan Embassy to Ankara and the organizers of the soirée, claiming that she was insulted by the ambassador’s wife and beaten by fashion designers on the backstage of the event in May after fashion designers had picked a fight.

The embassy said Saydan threatened and blackmailed the embassy after she failed to receive an invite to a second soirée, prompting the mission to warn police and the management of the hotel hosting the second event to prevent any incident that would disrupt proceedings. Despite the precautions, Saydan entered the hotel with great anger, the statement added.

Stating that Saydan had waited three days to file a complaint about the alleged maltreatment during the first event, the embassy said, “The incidents, which can be proved to be true, show that Saydan was never subject to maltreatment.”

In her compliant, Saydan said she had completed fashion parades despite the incident but that she was not paid for her services. The embassy, however, retorted, saying she received payment for both the events she completed and did not complete.

At a cocktail that followed the fashion parade, Saydan also claimed that Moroccan Ambassador to Ankara Lotfi Aword’s wife told her that “Turkish girls are very ugly and don’t know how to walk. They are not as beautiful as we are.”