The chef, who enjoys over 52 million followers on Instagram, previously filed a lawsuit against his father Hassan Ozdemir and accused him of embezzling funds and using his name to obtain loans to the tune of millions of dollars to purchase luxury properties and cars.
Rizgar Hassan Taib, a Kurdish businessman from Zakho known as Rizgar Sak, mediated the dispute between the father and son, who eventually reconciled and decided to bring their legal issues to an end outside of the court.
Taib told Rudaw on Wednesday that he is partners with Burak and Hassan in several businesses and that the dispute between them was hampering the operations of the Dives Group of Companies, owned by Taib.
“At first there was a dispute between Chef Burak and his father, and afterwards their relations broke down and we interfered to resolve their issues and were successful in reconciling them,” Taib said.
“I had been trying for 20 days to reconcile them and I finally did so at a hotel,” he added.
The dispute between Burak and Hassan intensified after the chef’s father sold the rights to his restaurant for $41 million, with the chef selling his luxury cars afterwards to provide the necessary liquidity to open a new restaurant in Istanbul.
On Wednesday, Burak told Rudaw that the disputes with his father were resolved and expressed appreciation to Taib, saying that “there are no more problems between me and my father.”
According to Taib, a ceremony will take place next month in Istanbul where he will be present with Burak and Hassan to give further explanations about the issues.
Three months ago, Burak said that his father had cheated him and wanted to prevent his success after the chef promised to help the victims of February’s devastating earthquake in Turkey. According to Burak, his father deprived him of his wealth, which forced him to sell his luxury cars in order to facilitate the opening of his new restaurant.
After filing a lawsuit against his father, Burak posted videos on social media on a daily basis saying that his father had cheated him.
“I have not cheated him in any way and my son’s humanitarian aid was only an advertising scheme,” Hassan said at the time. “My son is using his mother against me and wants to brand me as an enemy.”
Taib, a father of three, is a Kurdish businessman from Zakho who owns the Dives Group of Companies. He deals in food, sports, and other sectors and has businesses in cities including Erbil, Dubai, and Istanbul.
