William "Billy" Hayes (born April 3, 1947) is an American writer, actor, film director and convicted drug smuggler.
On May 12, 1975, the Constitutional Court of Turkey declared amnesty for all drug offenses, which shortened Hayes' sentence from life to 30 years; he was transferred to İmralı prison on July 11, 1975.
Declassified telegrams from the State Department indicated that in discussions between the US embassy and Vahap Aşıroğlu, Turkish Director of Consular Affairs, the latter believed Hayes would probably be released from prison on parole in October 1978, which in practice meant that a local prosecutor would declare him persona non grata and expel him from the country.
[7] Hayes escaped from İmralı on October 2, 1975, taking a rowboat at night to Bandirma, blending in with locals, and then heading westbound across the border to Greece.
Although the Interpol warrant for him had by then been lifted, Hayes explained that while he wanted to return, he hesitated to do so, out of concern that many Turks might blame him for the negative publicity the movie had generated.
Hayes said it was important to him to return, in order to "apologize and 'make amends' – not for the book he wrote, but for the film, scripted by Oliver Stone, on which it was based.
'The film wasn't what Turkish people deserved,' Hayes told reporters at a press conference, explaining that it painted an unfairly bleak portrait of the country.