# taz.de -- Ahmet Şık: „Das Urteil, das sie sprechen werden, hat für mich … | |
> Dem in Istanbul inhaftierten und angeklagten Investigativreporter Ahmet | |
> Sik wurde vom Richter untersagt, sich vor Gericht zu verteidigen. Wir | |
> dokumentieren seine nicht gehaltene Rede in englischer Übersetzung | |
Seit einem Jahr sitzt Ahmet Sik in Untersuchungshaft im | |
Hochsicherheitsgefängnis von Silivri. Bereits im Juli hatte er in der | |
ersten Anhörung im Prozess gegen 17 Mitarbeiter der Zeitung Cumhuriyet eine | |
aufsehenerregende Rede gehalten. Hatte er vor Gericht gesagt und eine fast | |
einstündige Analyse der AKP-Regierung ihrer Justiz geliefert. | |
Am Montag, den 25. Dezember, während der fünften Anhörung in diesem Prozess | |
hatte er erneut eine lange Rede vorbereitet. Doch der vorsitzende Richter | |
unterbrach ihn nach seinen ersten Sätzen und untersagte ihm, | |
weiterzusprechen. Sik sei kein Abgeordneter und habe deswegen kein Recht | |
dazu, die Regierung in diesem Gerichtssaal zu kritisieren. | |
Doch das allein reichte nicht. Der Richter ordnete an, Sik aus dem | |
Gerichtssaal zu entfernen. Er wurde abgeführt und in den Keller des | |
Gebäudes gebracht, wo er den Rest der Verhandlung verbrachte. | |
In Solidarität mit ihrem Kollegen verweigerten dann alle restlichen | |
Angeklagten, sich zu verteidigen und forderte, zu Ahmet Sik gebracht zu | |
werden. | |
Unter dem Hashtag #susturamazsin“ („Ihr könnt uns nicht zum Schweigen | |
bringen“) läuft auf Twitter eine große Solidarisierung mit Sik und den | |
anderen Angeklagten. Kollegen und Angehörige veröffentlichen die Rede von | |
Sik, die er vor Gericht nicht halten konnte. | |
Im Folgenden dokumentieren wir die Rede Ahmet Siks in englischer | |
Übersetzung: | |
Ahmet ŞIK’s Statement, December 24-25 Trial | |
On November 23, 2017, in the beginning of the legal year, President of the | |
Supreme Court of Appeal, İsmail Rüştü Cirit, stated some very striking | |
facts. He declared that according to the 2016 criminal records, there are | |
approximately 6 million 900 thousand suspects, within our country’s | |
population of 80 million. Cirit said, “This shows that in Turkey, when we | |
compare to the total population, 8 in 100 people are suspects, which is | |
quite high. There are initial level investigations being conducted on all | |
of these suspects,“ | |
Evaluation of these statistics, a country where 8% of its population is | |
considered suspects, shows a very high ratio. But, we should correct | |
Cirit’s simplified calculations. | |
That is to say: | |
If we consider those within the 0-15 age group and those who cannot be held | |
accountable by law due to mental disabilities, these make up 25% of the | |
entire population. Another 10% is composed of those with various physical | |
disabilities or who are bedridden and are physically unable to commit a | |
crime. | |
When we discount those who fall into these categories, there are | |
approximately 50 million people who can be held accountable for crimes. | |
If there are approximately 7 million suspects, as the President of the | |
Supreme Court of Appeals declared, it means that 15% of the population are | |
seen as suspects by the government. In other words, one in 7 people on the | |
streets is a suspect. | |
Using these facts, we can portray the current situation in Turkey as | |
follows: | |
Depending on majoritarianism as opposed to pluralism, the current | |
government treats and views every citizen who does not agree with them as | |
terrorists. | |
There is a judicial system, under the control of the current government, | |
that transforms all suspicions of terrorism into outrageous charges. | |
There is the media which hides facts and consequently, are accomplices in | |
ruining our common future. | |
There is a silent majority which remains in a web of silence as everything | |
happens in front of their eyes because they are scared for their well-being | |
or afraid that their comfortable lives will be disrupted. | |
Within this current situation, under a dictatorial regime which feeds off | |
violence and is based on cruelty and oppression, naturally the only that | |
thrives is evil. | |
It is not the type of evil that requires intelligence or talent. It is an | |
ordinary evil due to being power hungry. | |
They are evil. They know that they are evil. And this makes them even more | |
evil. | |
Those who have created this dark climate are trying to delay the | |
consequences of confronting themselves and their malice by accusing those | |
who will reveal their guilt. | |
The AKP’s most effective and strongest weapon in creating this environment | |
is undeniably its media.Media, through confiscations and buy offs, was | |
constructed as the voice of the current government. However, they needed to | |
bring the mainstream media groups over to their side since they themselves | |
did not possess the skills to impact the public opinion. | |
The AKP rule designed majority of the media through the great help of its | |
once ally and now most ferocious enemy, the Gulen Cemaat, to reach their | |
common goals. | |
Although, now, seen as a conspiracy, the chain of trials and investigations | |
of the Gulen Sect, played a key part in this design. The AKP covered up its | |
complicity through its power and oppressive regime. Currently, by using the | |
word “FETOist“ ( FETO (Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organization)) people can | |
be rendered ineffective; back then, the word that was used for similar | |
reasons was “Ergenekonist.“ (following Ergenekon). Even if people were not | |
arrested, the media was undermined and silenced through defamation. | |
The Sect’s organized network within the police and judicial organizations, | |
with the help and support of the ruling party, succeeded in silencing the | |
“unwanted voices.“ The media owned by powerful holdings supporting the | |
government were awarded with government bids and the others were penalized | |
by tax penalties. Columnists, TV anchors, and managers, acting as | |
commissioners of the ruling party were assigned to each of the media | |
organizations. | |
The columnists and TV persons who wrote or spoke against the government | |
were dismissed and it is still continuing. | |
If we express it with the words of the “puppet expert witness,“ Ünal | |
Aydemir: | |
“In this age, a media which has been used as a secret weapon of the | |
psychological warfare and asymmetric war tactic as a means to enforce and | |
manipulate, has been created. It has been employed to impact and guide the | |
public opinion and confuse the minds of the undecided. | |
Political opponents were weakened and worn down by media manipulations in | |
favor of the interest of the ruling government. Societal opposition has | |
been criminalized and polarization of the public has been accelerated | |
through tactics which could lead to chaos. A base for politics based on | |
majoritarianism and which are off the books and against the constitution | |
was prepared through questioning legitimate political means. The tool to | |
accomplish their goals was the media. The ruling party, which was acting | |
more like a gang only acting in its own interests, was moving along on the | |
path paved by the media organizations.“ | |
In summary, these statements from the report of the expert witness who was | |
ordered with the goal of making “terrorists“ out of us demonstrate the sad | |
condition of the media supporting the current regime. It also explains the | |
organizations you are seeking and the media groups who are accomplices to | |
the crimes. And if we again state this in the words of your expert witness, | |
“Covering the news by concealing the truth through manipulation to help | |
interest groups in accomplishing their goals and objectives is not | |
journalism.“ | |
No one has the freedom to commit a crime. No one should. Journalists should | |
not have it either. But, the alleged crimes are actually the regular | |
activities as part of the job of a journalist. However, if journalists are | |
deliberately producing fake news and concealing the truth, or in other | |
words, if a journalist has devoted himself/herself to creating a perception | |
dictated by the powerful, then, he/she can be accused of committing a | |
crime. In fact, he/she must be accused. But the ones that are judging and | |
punishing them should be the readers/watchers and professional journalism | |
organizations. | |
In other words, opposite to what you have been claiming, journalism is not | |
a crime. You also know very well that to criminalize journalists’ duties is | |
in fact the panic of those guilty ones who are afraid of the truth. Ones | |
who know they cannot seize the truth will lie and continue to commit | |
crimes. | |
The accusations you have made against us consist of news and commentaries | |
which were neither refuted nor brought up in any lawsuits when they were | |
initially published. You are trying in vain to create terrorists from | |
professional activities. | |
If we have to be tried, we should be tried for not representing the truths | |
when we could. Luckily, our record of professional activities is not | |
blemished. In fact, that is why we are here. | |
Cumhuriyet was one of the only media organizations who resisted the current | |
rule and the media it created and who became the spokesperson of the truth. | |
It is not surprising that it became a target and was decided to be | |
eliminated. | |
Because we already had a thick criminal record according to the government | |
who existed as a malicious organization. The hatred towards us grew due to | |
the news stories that were published on the Charlie Hebdo attack which was | |
an assault on freedom of the press and on the corruption, pillage and | |
criminal activities during the Syrian civil war. We should be punished for | |
these acts. They only needed “Allah’s blessing.“(Quoted by Erdogan | |
referring to the coup attempt). This “blessing“, was also realized when the | |
July 15 coup attempt, which was a fight for power between two former | |
accomplices, occured. | |
Even the imperfect and immature democracy was suspended. Those who were | |
digging the graves of the rule of law which barely existed, eagerly | |
participated in burying it without any hesitation. | |
What we have been living through in the past months in prison and in these | |
courts demonstrate that the current situation in this country, is a | |
representation of a political assault. In other words,what we are | |
experiencing is a representation of a play where we are pretending that | |
rule of law exists in a country, where everything supposedly exists. | |
The records of the investigation is the evidence of the conspiracy of this | |
political assault. This investigation file consists of examples of how rule | |
of law is massacred and examples of members of the law bending the rules | |
according to the individuals | |
Even though it is obvious that this is a conspiracy based on lies, they are | |
insisting on keeping us in prison and trying us in court based on crimes | |
which are not infact crimes, evidences which are not real evidences, as | |
forwarded against us the indictment. The marks that the media which has | |
targeted the freedom of the press and has become the hitman for this | |
assasination show how this conspiracy is set up. | |
I will explain all one by one. But first, let’s discuss a document which | |
shows that those involved in the conspiracy against Cumhuriyet are merely a | |
few civil servants. | |
However, a reminder is appropriate here since it is relevant. | |
Several examples of “copy-paste“ methods were used by the judges and | |
prosecutors to make their decisions without conducting any investigations | |
on the files were brought to light during many trials and investigations. | |
The supposedly independent and impartial judges and prosecutors following | |
directions mandated to them committed these crimes knowing they would not | |
be held accountable. They are still continuing to do this. For now, I will | |
just remind them of the situation the judges and prosecutors from the Sect | |
are currently in. | |
There are some of you who get mad when we tell them that these are | |
bludgeons of the rulership where judgements made at these trials are not | |
impartial and independent. Let’s prove that you have no right to get mad by | |
a document found in the investigation files. | |
When decisions were made on who to arrest during the Cumhuriyet operation, | |
the | |
Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor appealed to the Istanbul 5th Criminal | |
Court of Peace. They requested permits from the judge to search, seize, and | |
to charge through directing various accusations. It was decided that Orhan | |
Erinç, Akın Atalay, Önder Çelik, Turhan Günay, Bülent Yener, Günseli | |
Özatalay, Bülent Utku, Aydın Engin, Murat Sabuncu, Hikmet Çetinkaya, Musa | |
Kart, Mustafa Kemal Güngör, Hakan Karasinir, Güray Öz ve Can Dündar would | |
be arrested. Judge Cevdet Özcan from the Istanbul 5th Criminal Court of | |
Peace gave permission to this application given on October 30, 2016. | |
As you know, the operations began during the early hours of October 31, | |
2016. All of the suspects, except for Can Dündar ve Akın Atalay who were | |
out of the country, were taken into custody. Ones who were not at home went | |
to the office of the attorney general. During this time, the mainstream | |
media reports that Members of the Board of Directors of Cumhuriyet | |
Foundation, Nebil Özgentürk, Müslüm Özışık ve Eser Sevinç have been ta… | |
into custody. | |
That same day, our lawyers submit a petition which includes objections to | |
the arrests to the 5th Criminal Court of Peace. An appeal was also | |
submitted for Nebil Özgentürk, Eser Sevinç ve Müslüm Özışık whose names | |
were reported in the media since it was not clear whether there was a | |
decision for their arrests, since the files were disclosed to the ruling | |
media and not available for our lawyers. | |
Judge Cevdet Özcan of the Istanbul 5th Criminal Court of Peace rejected the | |
objections stating that there were no mistakes during the operations. Judge | |
Cevdet Özcan of the 5th Criminal Court of Peace did not even notice that a | |
mistake was made when Sevinç, Özgentürk and Özışık were arrested when th… | |
names did not exist on the warrant he provided. | |
Similar to previous Court of Peace, the 6th Criminal Court of Peace | |
declined the appeal of release of the same three names who weren’t detained | |
at all. | |
Meanwhile, we must remind you that even though his name was not on the | |
arrest warrant, Kadri Gursel was arrested in the afternoon of October 31, | |
2016. | |
Now, let’s describe the conspiracy within the investigation documents: | |
If we believe your prosecutor Murat Imam, who himself is accused of being | |
part of “FETÖ“ and has accused us of being part of “FETÖ“, the | |
investigation began on August 18, 2016. According to the ex officio | |
investigation proceedings, “News and commentaries made by some media | |
organizations alleged that Cumhuriyet was taken over by the PKK and | |
FETÖ/PDY terrorist organizations and that the newspaper was working in | |
their interests.“ | |
2 days before the July 15th coup attempt, on July 13, when columnist Aydın | |
Engin’s column was titled “Peace in the world, well then what in the | |
country?“, Prosecutor Inam found the missing piece. Because the ones who | |
attempted the coup named themselves “Peace in the Country Council.“ | |
Apparently, these facts led to suspecting that the Cumhuriyet newspaper | |
directors were had ties to the PKK and FETÖ terrorist organizations. And, | |
apparently, this suspicion was sufficient for starting an investigation. | |
It is the Prosecutor Inam who surrendered himself first to the organization | |
of a charlatan using religion as a means and then when the wind started | |
blowing in the opposite direction to the other power that is making these | |
statements. Prosecutor Inam, explains how Aydin Engin’s column’s title | |
became evidence of his suspicions in the indictment as follows: “It has | |
been deemed to be quite meaningful and gripping and cannot be viewed as a | |
simple coincidence“, “the title of the column cannot be a coincidence…“ | |
Namely, “meaningful“, “cannot be a coincidence,“ there is nothing else … | |
“calls attention.“ | |
Actually, the only thing that can be said for this accusation and mindset | |
is that the fact that a prosecutor who is ignorant of the law and ones like | |
him are part of the judicial system and involved in this case is | |
“meaningful.“ | |
The fact that a judicial system which accepts the following statement,“I | |
was fooled“, as a political self-criticism and does not investigate the “I | |
also helped them a lot,“ confession is the whip of the government, proves | |
that this cannot be a “coincedence“ in a “striking“ way. | |
Eight of the news articles and commentaries in the international media | |
which helped form the Prosecutor’s suspicions were in fact published before | |
August 18, 2016. | |
The prosecutor mentions the PKK in the accusations against Cumhuriyet. But | |
none of the 8 articles he used as the foundation for his case have any | |
statements on the relationship between Cumhuriyet and the PKK. There are | |
lots of lies pertaining to FETÖ. In fact, the prosecutor mentions these two | |
organizations, the PKK and FETÖ, in all of his correspondences during the | |
investigations. The arrests are based on these claims. However, when the | |
indictment was provided, another terrorist organization, DHKP-C, which had | |
never been mentioned before was included. The only reason this organization | |
was include in this conspiracy was based on a news story written by me. A | |
news story based on a phone conversation with the members of DHKP-C who | |
killed Mehmet Selim Kiraz. | |
I was arrested two months after this operation began on October 31, 2016, | |
for advocating for DHKP-C in the form of propaganda. However, since I would | |
not stay in prison for long based on this accusation, a few months later, I | |
was added to the main lawsuit against Cumhuriyet by changing the type of | |
the crime I was originally accused of. This way, with the addition of | |
DHKP-C, which was not part of the original investigation, the “organization | |
cocktail “ indictment was completed. | |
To blame all the suspects based on a story for which I was solely | |
responsible is not the only unlawful action. | |
There is also the crime of unlawfully removing the decision on a previous | |
dismissed case on the same news article. The guilty prosecutor is Fahrettin | |
Kemal Yerli. We have already explained how this crime was committed in your | |
court. However, your delegation working to make terrorists out of | |
professional activities of journalists, turned a blind eye to this crime. | |
So let’s ask: Do your prosecutors have the right to commit crimes? Who are | |
the managers and organizations which provide this freedom? And you, who | |
claim to be impartial and independent, will you take this claim that was | |
illegally fabricated into consideration? | |
When we follow the footsteps of the conspirators, we understand how this | |
conspiracy was brought to life step by step. The portrait that becomes | |
apparent is as follows: | |
Cumhuriyet is a newspaper which employs journalists who have earned the | |
hatred of the government and specifically Recep Tayyip Erdogan and were | |
decided to be silenced and placed in prison for a long time. Alev Coşkun, a | |
stakeholder in the internal affairs and power struggles within the | |
newspaper, used this hatred towards her own benefit and ambitions. He sent | |
an incriminating letter to the President’s Office on March 22, 2016 based | |
on criminalizing the elections which determined the members of the board of | |
directors with slander and baseless accusations. | |
Plans and documents began to be formed on “enemies“ which were decided to | |
be dismissed began after the July 15th coup attempt which was seen as | |
“Allah’s Blessing.“ The letters by Alev Coskun on the board elections were | |
used to build a case against Cumhuriyet. | |
During these conspiracy trials fake incriminating letters and emails (which | |
were tactics frequently used by the Sect) were replaced by the “complaints“ | |
brought to BIMER (Prime Minister's Communication Center). In fact, these | |
“complaints“ made to BIMER would be used to form a basis of the unlawful | |
accusations against Cumhuriyet. | |
The first complaint sent on July 19, 2016 by a person who hid his/her name | |
accused the Cumhuriyet Newspaper of supporting FETO (Fetullah Gulen | |
Terrorist Organization): | |
„The Cumhuriyet Newspaper distorted the news related to the July 15th coup, | |
made manipulative news by protecting FETO and its members, shamelessly | |
excluding them from the coup attempt.“ | |
In addition to establishing such a sentence that reverses grammatical | |
rules, he proved himself to be the competitor to the prosecutors who manage | |
this lawsuit with the accusations he directed. This complaint was added to | |
the Cumhuriyet file on 14th November 2016. | |
The date of the second complaint made via BİMER is August 14, 2016. Our | |
informant is not secret this time, he is called Turan Kılıç. Turan Kılıç, | |
who sent his greeting and prayers to the respectable state elders and tried | |
to prove that he was religious by saying „Amen“ but committing the sin of | |
blatantly lying. In the indictment, the following complaints, which were | |
presented as accusations towards us, are listed: | |
„Cumhuriyet Newspaper makes a fuss over Turkey’s support of ISIS. And it | |
was finding the Turkish Government responsible for this.“ | |
The informant, who proves that he has the same point of view with the | |
prosecutors, said that he got the „information“ by reading from the press | |
he followed. If he were Prosecutor Murat İnam, he would surely start the | |
investigation with the following words: „in some articles and news in the | |
media…“ This thinking, which is not different from the prosecutor, is also | |
revealed in the following sentences: | |
„The reason the newspaper was so clear was because the traitors who | |
attempted the coup on July 15th, helped both ISIS and the Cumhuriyet | |
Newspaper by supporting them with news, … Cumhuriyet Newspaper published | |
news and publications about HDP (People’s Democratic Party) justly, kindly | |
and sincerely. „ | |
Fortunately, our informer is more merciful than the prosecutors who | |
included the criminal charge of „showing terrorist organizations as | |
charming!“ in the indictment. He does not say “terrorist organization“ but | |
says HDP. This complaint is also merged with the main file by Prosecutor | |
Murat İnam on 12th October 2016. We understand from the correspondence and | |
documents that the informant deposed as the title of complainant on | |
September 29, 2016. | |
Let's see who is this person that the prosecutors have taken so seriously. | |
The results of a simple internet search of our informant also gives us an | |
idea about the address of the person who gave the order for the Cumhuriyet | |
operation. Three of the likes at Turan Kılıç's Facebook profile are: | |
It is obvious that our informant is an AKP member and a loyal „Chief fan“. | |
The reason for this is not just the likes on Facebook. It is his own | |
political preference of professional informant Turan Kılıç to be an AKP | |
supporter. However, we have something to say about how seriously he must be | |
taken as an informant. | |
We are also encountering Turan Kilic’s name, among the messages sent to the | |
corporate e-mail accounts of the AKP, which was published by Wikileaks. On | |
the 13th and 21st of June 2015, two e-mails sent to the AKP's information | |
hotline, outlined the results of the 7th June 2015 elections and explained | |
the reasons for the party's loss of votes: | |
Turan Kılıç blames HDP for pressuring the people who were voting, but only | |
24 votes were for HDP out of 285, in the polls where he was serving as a | |
polling clerk. Number of the AKP votes was 177. Number of the CHP and MHP | |
votes was 32. But Turan Kılıç thinks that the HDP pressured the voters . | |
Even, he summarizes what they should do during the elections in the East | |
and South East as follows: „The polls must be installed in safe places. An | |
open vote system must be provided.“Another e-mail by Turan Kılıç is headed | |
„Loss of votes and Its reasons“. We can get a good idea of his mindset of | |
this person who is taken seriously by the prescutors as an informant, in | |
this email where he lists many reasons. | |
Turan Kılıç explains that the AKP has served more in cities such as Van and | |
İzmir where there is a low vote level for the AKP and this matter has been | |
ridiculed by the voters there. | |
„As an AKP fan, these make me extremely upset. I need to give my piece of | |
mind to these shameless and degenerate people. Okay, I do not support | |
oppression, but I think the proverb „you get what you pay for“ is very | |
necessary here. They get the best service, but during the elections the | |
opposition party gets the most of the votes. Is this ethical? „From this | |
point of view, let us also ask: „Is it ethical to consider such a person’s | |
information, if he is not officially on the case?“ | |
Pandora's box has been opened and there is a complaint on the e-mail | |
notification line of the Anti-Terrorism Department on 14th August 2016. | |
This complaint, made by an informant whose identity is unknown, is about a | |
video news broadcast on the Cumhuriyet internet newspaper. The same day, a | |
complaint complaint about a news announcement shared by Cumhuriyet’s | |
Twitter account was directed to the Chief of Cyber Crimes Department for | |
further investigation. Let's watch this video, titled „The jihadists are on | |
the streets with guns.“ | |
This is the case! So, let’s read what is in the report of the Cyber Crime | |
Unit: „A Provocative post to support the treacherous coup attempt by FETO | |
…“We do not know if any inquiries have been made about these warriors who | |
have weapons and who have no authority to do this. But on January 13th | |
2017, this complaint was sent to the prosecutor for review and added to the | |
main file. | |
A lawsuit was filed against the news published on the Cumhuriyet's website, | |
quoted from the newspaper, Yeni Özgür Politika. Adnan Yilmaz, one of the | |
members of the Seferihisar judicial office, made a formal accusation | |
application on the day after this publication on 21 December 2015. This | |
news was an excerpt from the interview with Murat Karayilan who is one of | |
the leaders of the PKK, and it was published in some media outlets as well, | |
besides Cumhuriyet, but we do not know if there is any investigation about | |
them. Almost a year after the complaint, on 14th November 2016, an | |
indictment was filed against Serdar Eroglu, head of the Cumhuriyet internet | |
newspaper, on charges of „Praising the Terrorist Organization“. Just like | |
the others, this became evidence in the main file of the Cumhuriyet | |
investigation. | |
Another complaint made through BIMER is about some of tweets I posted from | |
my Twitter account. In accordance with the Anadolu News Agency Gaziantep | |
Branch employee Kerem Kocalar's complaint on November 28th 2015, they began | |
the process on November 2016. Gaziantep Chief Public Prosecutor's Office | |
initiated the investigation on 17th November 2016 and prepared a summary of | |
the proceedings based on the the 301st article, „publicly denigration of | |
the state,“ and asked for permission to begin the case from the Ministry of | |
Justice. | |
Due to the same posts, I was also accused in the investigation and was | |
arrested by prosecutor Fahrettin Kemal Yerli, for making propaganda of a | |
terrorist organization. The prosecution merged the two cases when they were | |
notified that there could not be a second investigation for the same crime. | |
These are the efforts, through BİMER or similar methods, to form a basis | |
for the operation against Cumhuriyet and us. It is as if someone hit a | |
button and all of these unfortunate and bad events came in succession. | |
Should we call these all the evils that we had in succession like someone | |
has hit the button just a coincidence or meaningful? | |
We were talking about how the conspiracy was mounted and staged, let's | |
continue. | |
In order to show consistency of the charges to be directed, the internet | |
archive was searched at this stage. There were searched conducted to match | |
articles to the accusations in the indictment. There was no need to | |
struggle too much. The lies of hitman of the ruling media or the AKP flank | |
guards who take the place of Sect with MHP's supporters and those who | |
welter in the nationalist battle, were brought together and called | |
„evidence“. | |
Archives were also scanned for news published in Cumhuriyet or on its | |
website. A similar method was used by the Sect Gang during the ODA TV | |
investigations. After entering keywords such as „Fethullah Gulen, | |
Ergenekon, Balyoz“ etc. in the search section of the ODA TV internet site, | |
they used the news that they saw as evidence.This method was also applied | |
on the Cumhuriyet website. No matter who the accusation is directed against | |
or what he accusation is, specific names or words are searched to help find | |
articles which could be used as evidence of guilt. | |
According to the press law, within four months of the statutory time limit, | |
any inquiries /comments that have not been filed, were included as criminal | |
evidence in the file. If these articles/comments contain a crime, why | |
didn’t your press prosecutors who came before Murat İnam take any action? | |
Can they not be viewed as committing crimes of abuse/neglect of their | |
duties? | |
The twitter tweets made by each of us were reviewed. Without even being | |
sorted, without understanding of what we tried to explain, criminal | |
evidence was created, | |
In the next step, the people employed in the ruling media from the hitman | |
group, were put into action. They were ordered to write commentaries and | |
articles which overlapped with causes of guilt which could be placed in the | |
indictment and also published stories on on TV. | |
For a report that will form the most important basis of the conspiracy and | |
the backbone of the indictment, there was an „expert“ whose skills were | |
known to your prosecutors. This so-called expert named Unal Aldemir, who | |
was employed by the prosecutor to violate the law, has received training in | |
informatics. In journalistic trial, he performed news text analysis. If we | |
state this in a more clear way, the lies which were ordered was signed by a | |
so-called expert. | |
The so-called report, like the indictment, narrowed the journalism borders | |
and set them back again, starting with a journalistic recipe in line with | |
the spirit of the time. It ordered that many fundamental principles, such | |
as the fact that the matter to be discussed had a bearing on the news, the | |
public benefit, the duty of the press to conduct an audit on behalf of the | |
public, were to be ignored. In the report, the new frontier of journalism | |
in Turkey, is based on not reporting on the crimes of the AKP, it’s leader | |
and related interests and power elites or on any news damaging the | |
interests of the AKP power. Did you make any news which revealed the truth? | |
According to the prosecutor, who led accusations from the report of the so | |
called expert, this was not journalism, it was manipulation. | |
We do not know whether this report belongs to a counselor, a government | |
commissioner, or a pro-government mediator. It may be one of the troll | |
account owners who show up in the virtual world. The posts on Twitter | |
accounts strengthens this ambiguity. It would be appropriate to say that | |
your prosecutors, who rely on the so called expert's report, are not so | |
different than him. | |
Your prosecutors' choice of experts is really weird. Your prosecutors, who | |
chose a person who has an informatics background for the media report | |
containing the news analysis, this time preferred a person, who claimed to | |
be a transportation and logistics specialist, for the digital inspection | |
report. | |
The name behind this strangeness is Fahrettin Kemal Yerli. Three months | |
after my arrest, the prosecutor Yerli indicted the decision to confiscate | |
my mobile phone, and he commissioned Bulent Tosun to make a digital review. | |
Bülent Tosun explains his expertise after his registration of the birth | |
certificate on „Expert Oath and Documents Delivery Minute“ dated 15th March | |
2017: „Transportation, logistics specialist. He works as an English and | |
German interpreter. „Bülent Tosun also describes himself as a „Forensic | |
Expert“ on his personal social media accounts. He explained that he creates | |
solutions for all kinds of transportation and logistics issues via air, | |
land, sea, railway, and storage. Bülent Tosun’s undergraduate education is | |
in economics, and the fact that he was chosen to conduct cell phone | |
screening, I guess, seems not only strange to us. | |
The need for a „witness“ to replicate the lies of the so-called expert, the | |
so-called report, is also selected from employed hitmen. Latif Erdoğan and | |
Huseyin Gulerce who are transferred to the AKP from the Sect, and Cem Kucuk | |
fulfilled the orders. As the President of the Court, those you do not | |
attribute these people as „gossip mongers“, became the witnesses of your | |
prosecutors. The indictment is formed with the lies of these witnesses, | |
„you have not given legal value to what they say.“ | |
I have explained one by one, how these three liar witnesses’ rubbish were | |
placed in your indictment. I will not read the long text and take your time | |
here to tell you how your prosecutors have placed baseless accusations of | |
liar witnesses in the indictment. I will also give you a copy of this text | |
that I have shown here as a slide. | |
Your prosecutors either believe in lies or trust their false witnesses too | |
much. If that was not the case, they wouldn’t try to arrest the courier of | |
our newspaper Yavuz Yakışkan. Most likely, your false witnesses are told to | |
testify according to a foretold scenario. We have no doubt that this is the | |
case. | |
Huseyin Gülerce and Latif Erdoğan testify that the Gülenists made payments | |
to our newspaper, and the “courier“ could have been used to transfer the | |
money, according to what they asked to tell. Then, our newspaper’s only | |
courier Yavuz Yakiskan’s name is identified, and the so-called | |
investigation starts. | |
First proof that there is a predetermined scenario and the witnesses | |
testify according to that scenario, is the correspondence related with | |
Yavuz Yakışkan in the file. This correspondence, dated March 13, 2016, | |
bears the signature of the chief prosecutor İrfan Fidan, the deputy chief | |
prosecutor back then. This correspondence is also a part of another | |
investigation on Cumhuriyet (2016/9898) as well as the main case. Yavuz | |
Yakiskan’s name appears along with other eight Cumhuriyet employees and was | |
remarked as courrier for the newspaper. And the court asked to determine | |
the mobile telephone numbers of eight Cumhuriyet employees and Mustafa | |
Yildiz (alleged Istanbul Imam of FETO) from the Istanbul Counterterrorism | |
Department. | |
We don’t know why Mustafa Yildiz, who is alleged as the FETO provincial | |
Imam, is investigated together with the Cumhuriyet staff. However, | |
prosecutor Irfan Fidan must be sure that he is somehow linked with | |
Cumhuriyet staff as he is proceeding with the investigation like that. | |
Yavuz Yakiskan is one of our co-workers who has been working as a courier | |
for many years. All other people mentioned in the correspondence are | |
Cumhuriyet’s executive staff. We don’t know why Yavuz’s name is among the | |
names to be investigated, and we learn that he is investigated when he was | |
taken into custody. | |
I don’t think it is just only meaningful for us that our friend Yavuz | |
Yakiskan’s accusations are based on phone calls made by his son using a | |
phone registered under Yavuz’s name. And, these phone calls are made with a | |
Mustafa Yildiz, who only coincidentally has the same name with the | |
aforementioned alleged FETO Imam. | |
Let’s keep going. | |
Based on the documents in the main case files, there hasn’t been any action | |
taken on Yavuz Yakiskan for the first 8 months. Because the second document | |
that mentions Yavuz’s name is dated November 28, 2016. Istanbul Counter | |
Terrorism Department responds to Irfan Fidan’s request one month after the | |
Cumhuriyet investigation was started; they identified the mobile and | |
landline phone numbers of the requested individuals. | |
After this point your prosecutor Murat Inam, who is now a FETO suspect, | |
takes the stage. One more person testified after Latif Erdogan (December 7, | |
2016) and Huseyin Gulerce (December 20, 2016) claimed that the Sect might | |
have sent money with a courier. And, Cumhuriyet staff Aykut Kucukkaya | |
testified as a witness on January 4, 2017. | |
Next day, on January 5, 2017, Murat Inam sent a request to Istanbul Counter | |
Terrorism Department. He mentions that Yavuz Yakiskan’s name appears in | |
witness’ statements, and requests all phone numbers registered on his name. | |
He also requests investigation of any potential links with terrorist | |
organizations, as well as usage of applications such as Bylock, Kakao, | |
Eagle. | |
The witness statement that mentions Yavuz Yakiskan’s name belongs to Aykut | |
Kucukkaya, who is a Cumhuriyet employee. Here is that part from his | |
statement: “I know that he runs some errands at the newspaper. But I don’t | |
know any of his other businesses. I don’t know anything about the financial | |
stuff. I know that he works for Cumhuriyet for at least 10 years“. | |
From this sentences, we understand that Yavuz Yakiskan’s name is mentioned | |
in Aykut Kucukkaya’s statement upon a question posed by the prosecutor | |
Yasemin Baba. Looking at the answers, it seems like she asked “Who is the | |
courier of Cumhuriyet?“ or “What is the role of Yavuz Yakiskan at the | |
newspaper?“. We can say that the question was directing the respondent to | |
mention Yavuz’s name. This is what your prosecutor Murat Inam refers to as | |
“Yavuz Yakiskan’s name is mentioned“ in witness statements. | |
According to the documents included in the investigation files, Yavuz | |
Yakiskan’s name is mentioned 8 more times in documents dated between | |
January 11, 2017 and February 20, 2017. The correspondence that reveals how | |
Yavuz Yakiskan’s accusation was made possible based on a scenario is as | |
follows. | |
Of course, they found nothing. However, Yavuz Yakiskan was taken into | |
custody on April 5, 2017 based on the claim that he contacted the so-called | |
FETO’s provincial imam Mustafa Yildiz several times through the phone. If | |
the truth was not revealed, Yavuz would have been arrested based on this | |
lie. However, the truth eventually reveals one way or the other, and this | |
disrupted the scenario. | |
Surprisingly, the so-called FETO imam was just a friend of Yavuz’s son who | |
was using the phone line registered under his father also coincidentally | |
called Mustafa Yildiz. This basic truth was revealed upon our attorney’s | |
close attention, although it could have been found out just with simple | |
investigation. However, Yavuz is still referred to as a suspect. | |
By the way, those “simple investigations“ were actually conducted. Lines | |
registered under Yavuz Yakiskan and Mustafa Yildiz’s names were determined | |
and the results of this investigation was included in the case files. | |
In other words, altough both Yavuz Yakiskan’s and the namesake of the | |
so-called imam Mustafa Yildiz’s phone lines were determined, this | |
information was kept as a secret as Yavuz was taken into custody. | |
There were no obstacles to stage the plot targeting Cumhuriyet and us. The | |
order to start the process was given on October 31, 2016. Government-backed | |
media takes the lead in “public justification“ of this plot, which nobody | |
were convinced. Including the prosecution stage, every stage of the | |
operation against Cumhuriyet was performed at the media courts. I will | |
explain those when it is time, but first let me go back to October 31, | |
2016. | |
Accusations that were first in the summary of proceedings, then appear in | |
the indictment were published for the first time by a Twitter account named | |
“tazemazi“. It was as if the users of this account acted on behalf of the | |
expertise or the prosecutors. Confidentiality order that limits the right | |
of defence for the accused and their attorneys was not available by the | |
users of this social media account and the government-backed media. | |
Accusations directed by this social media account was covered the next day | |
in Hilal Kaplan’s column in Sabah Newspaper, as if these were her personal | |
opinions. | |
One could have explained the appearance of a social media troll’s | |
disinformation on Hilal Kaplan’s column as a coincidence. However, the fact | |
that this “tazemazi“ Twitter account that spreads the disinformation is | |
managed by Hilal Kaplan’s husband Suheyb Ogut, rules out this option. Also, | |
Suheyb Ogut manages numerous troll accounts and websites publishing similar | |
sort of information with the financial support from the Presidential | |
Palace’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak. 23 separate troll accounts that were | |
activated in between September 27, 2015 and September 20, 2016, are | |
directed by “Global Relations Association“ which is known as “Bogazici | |
Global Relations Center“. The source of this information is the Bogazici | |
Global Relations Foundation (founded by an academic called Idris Kardas in | |
September 2015) and the troll accounts is Berat Albayrak’s emails leaked by | |
the Redhack. An email Suheyb Ogut sent to Berat Albayrak on September 6, | |
2015, includes the draft bylaw, foundation document and recommendations for | |
the board of directors for this organization founded to direct troll | |
accounts to spread disinformation. Hilal Kaplan is also among those | |
recommended for this foundation’s board of directors, together with her | |
husband Ogut. | |
Under these circumstances, it is not a coincidence that a troll account’s | |
claims appear in Hilal Kaplan’s column but it is rather a sense of mission. | |
We should also add that the annual budget of this foundation directing the | |
troll accounts is 1,724,000 TL, which is financed by the taxpayer’s money, | |
as Suheyp Ogut’s email to Albayrak dated September 6, 2015 revealed. | |
Government-backed media spreads the lies that were initially published by | |
the Twitter trolls who are again financed by the government-backed media. | |
Justice is allowing the articles they pre-ordered or leaking the | |
information and documents in the files. Afterwards, they are using these | |
news articles as evidence. Just like a boomerang. | |
However, the most meaningful part is the government’s prosecutors leaking | |
these documents, which is deemed as “confidential“ to a state-owned news | |
agency | |
To lead a case using leaked documents came across again when my arrest on | |
December 29, 2016 and my friend, Emre İper’s arrest, on April 6, 217. | |
In fact, the prosecutor in charge of my case, Fahrettin Kemal Yerli, even | |
asked questions based on the leaked documents which appeared as a news | |
story. | |
Do not get upset that I am blaming your prosecutors for leaking documents. | |
I wil give you another example. | |
The decision notebook of the Cumhuriyet’s Board of Directors of Cumhuriyet | |
Foundation was given to the attorney general, Yasemin Baba by our lawyers | |
on November 17, 2016. | |
This news story, which was deemed confidential to the suspects and their | |
lawyers yet open to the pro-governmental, on this document, could be found | |
on the Aksam newspaper on November 19, 2016. | |
Our lawyer’s plea for a trial on this issue was rejected. In mafia | |
terminology, this is called as the “Omerta Rule.“ | |
In the so-called confidential investigation, the information was published | |
every day in various media outlets, the conversations with persons desired | |
to be witnesses in the case also took place in the pro-governmental media. | |
In fact, sentences which never took place in the conversation were included | |
in the news. The conversation which was published in Sabah newspaper on | |
November 7, 2016 carrying the signature of Isa Tatlıcan is the most | |
striking. | |
This interview is evidence of the great abyss between the media employees | |
and your prosecutor, Murat Inam, and their job’s professional ethical | |
principles, in this conspiracy against Cumhuriyet. | |
Another person whose opinion was sought was Ceyhan Mumcu, known for his | |
hatred of the editorial and administrative management of Cumhuriyet. Mumcu | |
was made a witness shortly after the publication of the interview because | |
certain parts of his words. | |
One of these was titled, “Can Dundar knew of the Coup.“ Another statement | |
of Mumcu was based on accusation that “a high level administrator at | |
Cumhuriyet was “bringing in loads of money to Cumhuriyet.“ His claim was, | |
“We must investigate the source of this money. | |
Since he lived in Ankara, Ceyhan Mumcu’s statement was taken based on | |
instructions, where 11 questions were sent by your prosecutor Murat Inam. | |
The 9th question is on the loads of money brought to Cumhuriyet, as I | |
mentioned before. Even though in the conversation no names are mentioned, | |
Murat Inam’s question is as follows: “What is your information and evidence | |
on the explanations you provided in the media on the money brought by Akin | |
Atalay’s in a suitcase when Cumhuriyet was facing financial problems.“ | |
Unfortunately, the shallow cunningness portrayed by Murat Inam in adding | |
Akin Atalay’s name to the questions is not the only problem here. Ceyhan | |
Mumcu stated “I do not have substantiated evidence“ when asked about Can | |
Dundar’s information about the coup and “I do not have such a declaration“ | |
when asked about the money issue. | |
In other words, Ceyhan Mumcu stated he did not use the expression which led | |
him to be a witness in the case and that journalist Tatlican lied. | |
Your prosecutors, who include the refuted interview in the files, used our | |
news articles that were not disputed nor prosecuted to accuse us. I will | |
leave it up to you to decide waht to say about this pitiful situation. | |
There is a simple truth that comes out from these hearings. This case is a | |
trial against those who are trying to reveal the criminal records of the | |
ruling government. | |
But according to your claim, journalism is not on court. However I tried to | |
explain how a conspiracy is being staged and is the proof that we are here | |
because of our journalism activities. | |
This operation is a conspiracy conducted by members of the judicial system | |
that are controlled by a gang who has taken over the government and their | |
accomplices in the media to cover up the truth. | |
It is a crime committed against the truth, the freedom of thought and | |
freedom of expression, destroying the freedom of the press. It is also | |
reveals the fact that journalism is being politically limited and used for | |
the benefits of a political gang. | |
They are trying to make examples out of us to make the public hostage to | |
fear and this totally lacks dignity and is unjust. | |
It completely lacks any respect as they are trying to completely eliminate | |
freedom of the press. | |
It is clear what they are trying to do with this operation: | |
They are trying to capture and make submissives of those that expose their | |
crimes and those who are not of them. Their main aim is to eliminate | |
democracy, basic rights and freedoms to continue their criminal regime. | |
This country’s, this public’s memory is a deep hole composed of things they | |
do not want to remember, the alice they witness, yet pretend not to see, | |
facts they are afraid to face. | |
If the conspirators have confidence in these deep memory holes, they are | |
mistaken. Because everyone who took place in this operation, will be judged | |
in front of the law, I am sure. And some of their crimes do not have | |
statute of limitation. | |
The conspirators committed crimes against humanity and the truth. My only | |
wish is that they are not tried in the courts similar to that of we have | |
now. I hope they will find themselves in front of a truly just and | |
impartial and independent court where the law is above all else. | |
No one should doubt that we will do our best to make sure that these | |
conspirators are tried justly. | |
Because, as contrary to those who believe in the law of revenge, we would | |
like to have fair and impartial justice even for our enemies. | |
Now lets talk about the facts why you put me in the target, arrested and | |
why you are still keeping me in the prison. | |
I have said this many times before; I knew I was going to be arrested in | |
2015, I got the news before and I was threatened. You do not have to be a | |
genius to guess this. Because I was continuing to do what I know best, | |
which is my profession. | |
Practicing journalism focused on human rights has always been a core | |
principle in Turkey, where there has never had a strong connection to | |
democracy, and instead a long list of offenses against basic rights and | |
freedoms. I personally penned many articles during times when the state | |
turned into a criminal organization, during times of torture, | |
disappearances, executions, and the evacuations and burnings of villages. | |
I have written stories that revealed the government’s use of self-granted | |
powers to settle personal interests and profit under the auspices of the | |
“war on terrorism“. I did this because I believed it was the duty and | |
responsibility of journalists to uncover the truths covered by the powerful | |
ruling elites. I still believe this. This is why I have always been one of | |
those journalists who were threatened and targeted. I have been on trials | |
many times just like I am now. My accusers have always been state | |
institutions and powers. I have never been convicted because I have always | |
been a journalist who rely on the truth, and the motives of my accusers | |
have always been revealed. | |
What the many painful stories I have witnessed and reported, have taught me | |
is never to believe what the state or the powerful say on the subject of | |
basic rights and freedoms or their infringement. Within this context of | |
lies, I have always tried to find out what hasn’t been said looking at what | |
has been publicisized and believed that the proper way to conduct this | |
profession is doing it with skepticism. In an undemocratic country without | |
an impartial and independent judiciary like Turkey, it is my duty and | |
responsibility to speak out when the powerful governments are trying to | |
present their lies as reality. | |
On the other hand, I have never been a person who takes his mind and belief | |
in justice, hostage to revenge, unlike you. Like the people who submitted | |
to one of the sides during the war for power between the two gangs, I have | |
not chosen to take sides. I continued to stress that AKP and the Gulen Sect | |
should be tried together for the crimes they committed together. Therefore, | |
I have not been one of the hatchet men who is regarded as a journalist only | |
in the eyes of the government. And, I shall never be. So, it is not | |
surprising that I am standing here before you. | |
In anti democratic countries, what scares the ruling elite most is the | |
truth coming to light, resulting in equalizing the playing field. | |
Therefore, they do not want the truth to be mentioned and be heard. They | |
maintain the secrecy of their shady activities under the cover of | |
governmental secrets. In other words, what is called governmental secrets | |
are the polluted waters under the cover of law. The responsibility to find | |
who are swimming in those waters falls on the journalists. | |
In addition to pillage and corruption, the period during which AKP polluted | |
the waters most during its governance, was the activities that they | |
performed according to the role given to them by imperialism during the | |
civil war in Syria. The reason why I was threatened by death or by | |
imprisonment was some news pieces I wrote on this subject in the newspaper | |
Cumhuriyet. Let us recall some of these news pieces about the shady | |
cooperation between MIT (Milli Istihbarat Teskilati= Turkish National | |
Intelligence Agency) and the jihadist groups that participated in the | |
Syrian civil war; | |
After the start of the publication of these news pieces, a person who works | |
at MIT called me on the phone. He was saying that I was “in the parallel | |
bloc“ and also that “I belonged to the Gulen Sect“, as is also mentioned … | |
your indictment. During this phone call that happened in February of 2015, | |
he also mentioned that I would be imprisoned and be punished for these | |
crimes.I just laughed at such outrageous accusations. But it will be | |
beneficial to recall the dialogue which is important to show how deep the | |
government is in trouble and the type of people it is cooperating with: | |
I said to the MIT employee on the phone: “First look at what you yourselves | |
are doing. The smartasses you were dealing with are selling the arms and | |
ammunition you sent them to other jihadist groups.“ Here is his reply: “We | |
know. We determined who they are. We ended the cooperation.“ Is it this | |
simple? | |
After this phone call, threats started through the social media. What | |
started this was a newspaper named “Vahdet“. It is required at this point | |
to elaborate somewhat more on this newspaper which undertook the role of | |
being the hitmen man of MIT. | |
It seemed that the publisher of Vahdet was Yener Donmez, who was the | |
representative of the newspaper Akit in Ankara. The questions from where he | |
found the funding to publish a newspaper, how he afforded the daily | |
operating costs have no answers. But Vahdet’s publication stopped on | |
September 1, 2016. Let me also add that Yener Donmez, who pointed me as a | |
target, was later arrested for being a member of the FETO Sect, was using | |
Bylock, and participated in some conspiracies. The threats, which were | |
apparently led and administered from the same headquarters, started coming | |
after Donmez pointed me as a target. | |
While the threats were continuing to come in, a policeman, who said he was | |
from Public Security Branch Office, called me to say that he is going to | |
deliver a notification. I invited the policeman to the newspaper and we met | |
with him in my attorneys Bulent Utku and Tora Pekin’s office.He told us | |
that Police Intelligence Bureau has received intelligence that I will be | |
assassinated and therefore, they will provide security detail for me. When | |
asked about the source of the threat, he said it was “Mihrac Ural group“. | |
I told him that lately I have been frequently threatened, and that I | |
thought that this is not done by the Mihrac Ural group but directly by way | |
of MIT’s finger pointing. I did not accept the offer for a guard. | |
Previously, I had talked to Mihrac Ural on the phone concerning some news. | |
I called him and told him that the police told me that he would assassinate | |
me and conveyed him the conversation I had had with that policeman. | |
Naturally, his response was a chuckle. I wrote an article about this | |
conversation and the other details on the subject and posted it on Twitter. | |
Here, I have to remind you of the publication of a false news piece that | |
appeared on the front page of the newspaper Yeni Safak just before this | |
trial started, stating that I wrote an article on the orders of Mihrac Ural | |
who was planning to have me murdered. | |
These were not the only crimes I was accused of. I was also asking | |
questions about certain aspects of the coup attempt on July 15th, that were | |
tried to be kept in the dark, and struggling to get answers to my | |
questions. | |
If we are to sum up: | |
I was reporting on the murky cooperations that the National Intelligence | |
Agency (MIT) forged with some jihadist groups. | |
Someone from the MIT, an institution whose traces I found in each and every | |
shady situation, called me to threaten and accuse me of being part of the | |
“parallel structure“. | |
I was finger pointed and slandered with the lie of operating for the | |
“parallel structure“ by the newspaper Vahdet, where a hitman who was to be | |
arrested for being part of the FETO organization in the wake of July 15 was | |
working at the time. | |
I started receiving a surge of threats from the same headquarters after the | |
publication of this news piece. | |
The Police Headquarters decided to give me a security detail. | |
We made an official complaint after these threats, but unsurprisingly | |
obtained no result whatsoever. | |
As you may very well know, the fact that we are being held hostage has | |
nothing to do with what is stated in the indictment in front of you. This | |
indictment is full of lies by people who know that they will not be able to | |
hide the truth forever. The crimes of those very people who are currently | |
directing the accusations towards us are in the indictment itself. The | |
reason why the notion of justice has been trampled upon by the members of | |
the judiciary under the orders of the government in the last 14 months is | |
clear; it is because they are trying to patch over and close up every | |
opening through which the light of truth may seep in. Unfortunately, this | |
operation to slaughter journalism has been undertaken by the media itself. | |
To put this in the words of your expert witness, “they are practicing | |
journalism in line with the vested interests of a political gang with which | |
they are in complicity, by concealing the truth through lies and | |
manipulations.“ | |
This operation, backed by political powers, has been conducted by members | |
of the judiciary who follow orders rather than the rule of the law, and by | |
the media who obeys a political gang. The lies that are attempted to be | |
placed in this piece of scrap called the indictment as evidence were | |
dictated to these ‘media hitmen’ weeks before the operation itself. The | |
charges, which morphed into official lies, were popularized on the social | |
media first, and then on the internet sites of the mafia media, their | |
newspapers and television stations. We’ve demonstrated this clearly through | |
appropriate examples. | |
When the trials commenced, we saw that not only the conjuring of consent, | |
but the adjudication of this conspiracy itself was to be done upon media | |
platforms acting as pseudo courts. | |
In the trials that started in July, prior to and during each hearing a gang | |
composed of people masquerading as judges and prosecutors leaked the | |
documents and information, spun out of lies, to the media acting as their | |
hitmen. Even the indictment itself was handed over to these hitmen before | |
it was presented to you. | |
On July 19th, a few days before the trial started on July 24th, the Yeni | |
Safak newspaper was the source of fabrication. The records of my phone | |
calls, which are not even in the investigation files, were on newspaper | |
headlines with a lie to accompany. I was being accused of taking orders | |
from a person whom the police department had previously warned me would | |
assassinate me, even offering me protection. | |
We were to first learn your prosecutor’s advisory opinion on the 28th of | |
July from the internet site of the Sabah newspaper. You publicly declared | |
that the document carrying the name and signature of your prosecutor, Hasan | |
Bolukbasi, was fake; but didn’t feel the need to investigate the gang | |
behind this fake document. | |
We found out about your so-called evidence from Sabah’s internet site once | |
more, before it was uploaded onto the UYAP system during the hearing held | |
on September 11th. | |
In the same manner, we heard the decision you were to give on September | |
25th from the internet site of the Star newspaper while the hearing was | |
still going on. | |
What these examples, which may also be interpreted as something of a | |
synchronization problem, signified was quite explicit: the people giving | |
your instructions did not even care to hide it. | |
During the hearing on October 31st, the personal correspondence belonging | |
to Osman Kavala, taken from his phone records, appeared in your court even | |
before his interrogation; Mr. Kavala also found himself in jail by a | |
similar conspiracy. But this information had previously appeared on the | |
internet site of the Sabah newspaper yet again. | |
You have been telling us continuously since the beginning, that you are not | |
putting journalism on trial. We try to force ourselves to believe you for | |
once. But then we remember the questions you are directing at us. If we | |
leave the ones about the claims of irregularities during the elections of | |
the foundation aside, it’s all:“Why did you print this news piece?“. “W… | |
did you use this photograph?“, “Why did you put this heading on your | |
article?“, “Why did you print this article on the front page?“, “Who hi… | |
you?“, “What is the duty of the editorial consultant?“ | |
These are the questions you ask. | |
You, who are trying to prove the existence of an illegal organization based | |
on what we put on social media, on our news reports and photographs, on our | |
articles, on the headings, and even the page layout of the newspaper, | |
closed your ears to our requests for you to investigate the illegal | |
organization within the very courthouse you are serving in. You already | |
know who is leaking the information, who is dictating the false news to you | |
as a directive, as much as we do. Actually, this is exactly why you ignored | |
our requests; namely, because you cannot investigate this gang composed of | |
your colleagues, some of whom occupy higher ranks and posts. | |
However, you know better than I do that law exists to prevent the abuse of | |
power. That is why law is more powerful than politics and government. This | |
is what should be the case. | |
When that is not the case, the people who occupy such higher ranks and | |
posts without having the necessary competence hold on to injustice with all | |
their might. They turn a blind eye to lawlessness. They become accomplices | |
to the system based on lawlessness. Since they are the ones who best | |
understand the meaning of the state of lawlessness, they continue to commit | |
crimes in order not to lose their positions. This is what some of your | |
colleagues are doing. | |
You had witnesses specially selected so as to justify the lies in the | |
indictment. You, yourself, as the presiding judge, mentioned that some of | |
these witnesses considered respectable/reliable by the public prosecutors, | |
were not so in your opinion. I will return to this a little later. At this | |
point, I want to remind you that none of the statements made in the | |
courtroom by persons whose testimonies were included in the indictment by | |
public prosecutors of yours while trying to prove us to be “terrorists“ | |
actually validated the accusations brought against us. Even employees who | |
had talked indiscreetly about the internal matters of our newspaper in the | |
offices of public prosecutors mentioned that particular portions of their | |
statements had been cropped out, used out of context and distorted, | |
explaining how the prosecution had hence abused its power. | |
The person laying bare the true nature of the court ended up being Sukran | |
Soner. She mentioned that she had spent a large portion of her professional | |
life in the courts of juntas, and that your court was no different from | |
them. In her statement that she presented to the court in Silivri, she | |
said, “The previous set-up trials orchestrated by the Gulen Sect were the | |
First Silivri Trials. The present one is now the Second Silivri Trial“, | |
thus revealing that although the conspirators are different, the conspiracy | |
is, in fact, the same. | |
We also watched the performances of two witnesses, who were deemed to be | |
respectable/reliable by your court. Alev Coskun, who claimed to be a keen | |
follower of Ataturk, emerged as a discontent, perfidious informant, acting | |
as an accomplice to the sworn enemies of the values championed by Ataturk | |
for the sole reason of obtaining a post. | |
We came to know Alev Coskun not only as an informant but also as a witness | |
desperately trying to offer up the Cumhuriyet newspaper to the | |
(Presidential) Palace to be dealt with it at will. In this framework, your | |
true intentions, as well as those of the prosecutors insisting on our | |
confinement, were revealed. This trial is simply a dramatic circus, | |
designed to force Cumhuriyet to become a pro-government paper. | |
Then there was Riza Zelyut, who returned the award given to him by the | |
Gulen Sect when he realized that it was a center of evil. In spite of this | |
awakening, after the instruction of his employer he wrote an article that | |
sang praises to Fethullah Gulen and his Sect, just around the time of the | |
conspiracy trials in 2012. If you were to ask him, he is the best ever | |
columnist in Turkey. Yet his one and only fault is that he writes upon | |
instruction from above. | |
Dogan Satmis appeared as your last minute witness. | |
During the conversation heartily snatched at as evidence by your | |
prosecutors, Satmis replied to the question “Who was your favorite boss?“, | |
with the answer: “Sedat Simavi, because he used to give us gift baskets | |
with gold in them on New Year’s Eve.“ He was the editorial consultant at | |
Cumhuriyet during the time in which some of the news pieces cited in your | |
indictment as incriminating material were published. Kadri Gursel, on the | |
other hand, was kept in captivity for being the editorial consultant for 34 | |
days only, even though he had nothing to do with the news pieces in | |
question here, which also do not, in any case, contain criminal elements of | |
any sort. Murat Sabuncu, who did not bear any responsibility or authority, | |
said “All the responsibility is mine“ with respect to those news reports | |
and articles, and has now completed 14 months in captivity. | |
Yet Dogan Satmis, who “loves the boss that gives gifts of gold“, and says | |
that he could ignore the truth because “there is no news worth dying for or | |
being in prison for“, became your witness. We were not surprised. | |
Because evil is like water. It always finds the lowest level and flows down | |
there. It is not a coincidence that evil is able to organize so easily in a | |
country containing a lot of people with some kind of emptiness, open space | |
or cracks in their personalities. | |
Based on his professional experience, attorney Bülent Utku explained in | |
detail why the indictment has nothing to do with law. By individually | |
citing the accusations, he demonstrated clearly how the prosecutors had | |
disregarded the law in order to conform to the instructions they had | |
received.Attorney Akın Atalay sent each bit of slander whizzing into the | |
trash bin of history, where they belonged. He proved that hitmen labeled as | |
expert witnesses were as bad at telling lies as the prosecutors themselves. | |
We heard you, the presiding judge, say things like “I agree that the | |
indictment has problems“ and “we also think that the complaints about the | |
expert witnesses are justified.“ The statements “We will call in some of | |
the witnesses, but of course not the likes of Gülerce. Rumors and hearsay | |
do not have any judicial value,“ also belong to you.A short time ago we | |
showed you how these testimonies you refer to as “rumor and hearsay“ were | |
used in the indictments, and how they constituted large portions of the | |
bill of charges. You are not only continuing to try us based on an | |
indictment that is built upon these lies, but you are also still keeping us | |
in jail on this kind of grounds.If, as you have said, you do not consider | |
these hearsay testimonies to have any judicial value, it is obvious that | |
you need to end this trial with an acquittal and put an end to this | |
injustice. | |
You mentioned but one name, yet we know who you mean when you say those | |
speaking gossip only. Hüseyin Gülerce and Latif Erdogan, who served as | |
administrators in the Gülen Sect, now called an illegal organization, for | |
25 and 40 years consecutively. Another one is Cem Kucuk, who praised Gülen | |
during the “era of bliss“, (the period of cooperation between the Gülen | |
Congregation and the government). | |
You are concluding that the statements of these witnesses, who were | |
accepted to be credible by your colleagues who happen to have or don’t have | |
their signatures on the indictment and investigation documents, are merely | |
hearsay and have no judicial value. You are right.The statements made by | |
those who do not have dignity, honor and self-respect do not have not only | |
judicial value, but any value at all. Because, as Sevgi Soysal says | |
“Lumpens are the filth of the system.“ And when the system itself turns | |
into the filth, only those who feed from the same garbage dump pay | |
attention to what those lumpens say. | |
These lumpens who position themselves according to their owners are now | |
accusing us of being “terrorists“ and “traitors.“ If we were, however, … | |
hear flattering words from them, it would only be then that we would truly | |
doubt ourselves. | |
I leave to you to find an explanation for the contradiction in having | |
included in the indictment all the hearsay testimonies in which you were | |
unable to see any judicial value and your insistence on using them to | |
implicate us. | |
With your preliminary proceedings report you accepted this indictment, | |
which contains testimonies based on rumors, biased expert witnesses, and, | |
in your words, is problematic. We also gleaned from your statement “It is | |
strongly suspected that the evidences to be collected will be | |
incriminating,“ in the same preliminary proceedings report that you | |
considered the hearsay testimonies factual and had already presumed us to | |
be guilty. | |
For we were among those who rejected the tyranny of crime rather than those | |
who surrendered to fear or acted out of their own interest. | |
Our objection is to be forced to close our eyes, ears and mouths to all the | |
evils, injustices, inequalities and unfairness that are being perpetuated; | |
and to accept the system of plunder and pillage with undisputed obedience. | |
Opposing what is wrong is not an evidence of our guilt, but a confirmation | |
of our humanity. And this is the cause of the hatred towards us. | |
To be brave surely does not mean having no fear at all, but instead to be | |
able to speak up and raise your objection whilst knowing full well what you | |
stand to lose. For cowards do not live. They only survive. Let me take this | |
opportunity to say that the silent majority will bear the onus of answering | |
the question of what it feels like to remain silent and not object while | |
all of this horror is playing out in plain daylight before their very eyes | |
when merely witnessing evil is enough to stain the soul. | |
During the hearings in July, a dialogue took place between you, the | |
presiding judge, and me about not knowing each other. Now looking back in | |
the wake of the performance of this court in terms of slaughtering the law, | |
I can say that I was wrong. I am acquainted with you and all the members of | |
your court including the prosecutor. You were present at the OdaTv trials | |
that were initiated as the result of a plot by the Gülen Sect, charging me | |
with being involved in the Ergenekon movement. In that instance your name | |
was Mehmet Ekinci, the prosecutor’s name Cihan Kansız, and the other judges | |
Hikmet Sen and Seyfettin Mermerci. | |
The judiciary of the Sect would massacre the notion of law by bringing | |
unfounded charges against people and then toying with the carcass that was | |
once law in trials that were simply shows to put on an 'appearance of | |
justice’. Today’s judiciary is doing exactly the same. Thanks to you, I | |
have gained yet another experience that demonstrates what happens when the | |
scales of justice balancing impartiality, independence, conscience and | |
logic break down. | |
You have become the accomplice of a political operation that was a clear | |
set-up. You have kept persons you knew to be innocent in jail using | |
evidence that was not judicially acceptable and charges that were not real | |
offences. You either obeyed directions or had political motives. Both | |
alternatives lead us to the same conclusion. There is no rule of law here! | |
And so we can have no justice. | |
For no justice can come from the collusion of interests of those in power | |
and their minions. | |
For attempting to use the judiciary as a means for revenge by rendering the | |
law a tool of hatred is what dictators do. | |
For under dictatorships where the only justice that exists is that of power | |
and the powerful, courtrooms become black holes swallowing up justice | |
itself. | |
And because of all these, this trial is evidence that justice cannot be | |
obtained through the legal process. | |
You continued this court case, which had crumbled apart from the very first | |
hearing, by insisting on unlawfulness, and appeared before us with the same | |
justifications each and every time. | |
You must know that those who continuously repeat the lies of others not | |
only amplify them, but also internalize them until that big, walloping lie | |
ceases to be somebody else’s and comes to belong to the one who is | |
repeating it. It becomes their “reality“. Or they become the prisoner of | |
that falsehood and turn into a liar. | |
Although it was obvious from the onset that this political operation was a | |
set-up based on lies, your prosecutor repeated the same requests from day | |
one. In turn, your panel repeated decisions in line with these requests. | |
And so, you fell captive to a lie. | |
It is for this reason that I have nothing to request from you. | |
My statement is a response in advance to the concluding remarks and | |
demands, which I know are to be made by your prosecutor, and to the verdict | |
of your panel – the contents of which have already been decided in some | |
other place way before, and which I also already know. It is also yet again | |
an accusation. | |
Each and every one of our lawyers have explained the unlawful acts that | |
have taken place since the commencement of this rigged show on the 31st of | |
October 2016, with their belief in the rule of law for which I have great | |
respect. | |
They explained the laws, the related sections of the constitution and the | |
decisions of the constitutional court and the court of appeals. They talked | |
about the European Convention on Human Rights, other international | |
conventions and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. They | |
laid out all the breaches of law that have been committed with your | |
complicity. Surely, law may be discussed with those who are not lawyers or | |
legal experts. | |
But there is no point in engaging in a legal discussion with those who have | |
allowed their personal interests to trump the rule of law.The verdict that | |
you will announce has no importance for me.Because, if we are to put it in | |
the terms used by the presiding judge of this court in describing the | |
testimonies of some of the false witnesses, the verdict that you will be | |
announcing 'has no judicial value’. Just like the lies of the prosecutors | |
who submit themselves to whomever is in power and the fabrications of the | |
puppets you call expert witnesses… | |
We, who have stood upright and with a clear conscience before you since the | |
very first day, as journalists strongly adhering to the ethical principles | |
of our profession have been absolved by history. Yet it is impossible to | |
say that history will pass a favorable judgement on you. | |
I have no doubt that you will sentence each of us to penalties | |
predetermined somewhere else entirely. But you should know that carrying | |
out directives under the wings of a hierarchical chain will never be able | |
to exonerate you from your responsibilities. | |
In my opinion, the only truth in your preliminary proceedings report that | |
may be considered an indication of your upcoming verdict is the conclusion | |
that we “would continue committing similar crimes in the event of being | |
released.“ | |
You are once again right to be concerned.Because, whatever you do, we will | |
hesitate neither in our search for the truth, nor, once we find it, in | |
handing it back to its rightful owner, the people. | |
For we are journalists. | |
We are the journalists whose paths are illuminated by Uğur Mumcu, who was | |
never afraid to lay bare the dark secrets of the government’s loci of | |
power. | |
We are the followers of Musa Anter, who toiled to have the language of | |
peace prevail over that of conflict in this country. | |
We are the brothers and sisters of Hrant Dink, who was trying to build a | |
bridge of brotherhood between peoples even when he was living with the | |
restlessness of a dove. | |
We are the comrades of Metin Göktepe, who struggled so that justice, | |
equality and freedom would take root in this land.Because we are | |
journalists who believe that our profession should be performed as it | |
deserves; unflinching, upright, and unwavering from what is right and | |
truthful in both behavior and character. Because of this, we will continue | |
telling the truth even if you murder us as you have done in the past or | |
imprison us as you are doing now.Because journalism is not a crime despite | |
what the owners of totalitarian regimes, their judiciaries and | |
collaborators may say. | |
26 Dec 2017 | |
## AUTOREN | |
taz. gazete | |
## TAGS | |
taz.gazete | |
Amnesty International | |
Opposition in der Türkei | |
taz.gazete | |
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA | |
Türkischer Amnesty-Chef Taner Kılıç: Menschenrechtler wieder verhaftet | |
Taner Kılıç, Präsident des türkischen Amnesty International, sollte am | |
Mittwoch freikommen. Stattdessen wurde er erneut inhaftiert. | |
Kommentar Selbstjustiz in der Türkei: Straffrei gegen Putschisten | |
Rüstet sich das Regime in der Türkei für einen Bürgerkrieg? Ein Dekret | |
Erdoğans sorgt vor allem unter Oppositionellen für erheblichen Aufruhr. |