Hang Mustafa and Nagihan as a lesson to everyone!

I believe it was 2001. I hadn't yet moved to Vatan newspaper, and I was writing for Star, the opposition newspaper of those days.

One day, a bombshell development occurred.

A decision to shut down İhlas Finans had been issued by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).

Nearly two hundred thousand 'İhlas victims' had flocked to the front of İhlas Finans branches all over the country, hoping to recover their money, which amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.

A great shock was being experienced.

However, the Ören family, the owners of this institution, were in high spirits.

They had blamed the professionals and were continuing to defend themselves through Türkiye Gazetesi and TGRT as if nothing had happened.

*

Like in all other cities, the 'İhlas victims' in Şanlıurfa had also rushed to the front of the İhlas Finans branch. The square where the building was located had turned into a rally area due to the creditors.

Everyone was waiting for an explanation from the officials in the building. Hours were passing, but that explanation was never given.

It had gotten dark. At that moment, a black official vehicle and a security vehicle, followed by a pickup truck, pushed through the crowd and stopped in front of the building.

A few men in ties and suits got out of the cars, entered the building in a hurry, and disappeared from sight.

Not even an hour had passed before the office equipment in the İhlas Finans branch began to be carried to the pickup truck by the staff.

Everything, including the armchairs and chairs in the branch, was loaded onto the vehicle. Then the pickup truck quickly left the area.

*

That day, all channels reported this incident in their main news bulletins. According to the news, the person who got out of the official vehicle was the Chief Public Prosecutor of Şanlıurfa at the time. There were security police in the vehicle behind.

We learned that the Chief Prosecutor was also a staunch depositor of İhlas Finans... He, too, like other citizens, had deposited his money into İhlas Finans, which promised high interest (so-called profit share)...

As soon as he heard the news that İhlas had gone bankrupt, he wanted to recover his own debt "by taking advantage of his chief prosecutor status" and had obtained a seizure order for all the items in the branch.

In other words, while other depositors couldn't even enter the building where the branch was located, this friend had recovered his money (at least a significant portion of it) with the power granted by being a chief prosecutor.

*

I carried this news, which was broadcast on all television channels, to my column the next day and asked the Chief Prosecutor a single question:

"What you did may be legal, but do you think it is ethical? How right is it to use your official power, your title, the state's police, and your official vehicle to recover your money?"

A few months later, Ali Özgündüz, who was serving as the Press Prosecutor at the Küçükçekmece Courthouse at the time and would later become my close friend and a CHP Istanbul 3rd District MP, called me.

Stating that there was an insignificant complaint against me, he invited me to his office to take my statement.

I got up the next day and went to his office at the courthouse. After we drank our tea and talked about the issues on the country's agenda for a while, he got to the point:

"Mr. Mustafa, you wrote an article about our Şanlıurfa Chief Public Prosecutor the other day. I won't lie, I agree with every line, every comma of what you wrote. You even wrote too little. However, you know that in the judicial protocol, he is considered our doyen. It would be shameful for me to turn down his complaint. For this reason, I will file a lawsuit against you, even though I don't believe in it, but I am sure that the Judge who will hear the case will understand how right you are and will dismiss the case."

*

Young Prosecutor Ali Özgündüz did as he said and filed the lawsuit. However, the Judge must have thought, "This decision will be overturned by the Court of Cassation anyway, but at least I won't have offended the Chief Prosecutor"... She sentenced me to two and a half years in prison.

My lawyer appealed the decision.

However, the same decision came from the Court of Cassation.

The members of the Court of Cassation also stood by their chief prosecutor!

And I...

I received a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence just because I said, "What you did may be legal, but is it ethical?"

Thank God they granted the grace of suspending my sentence, so at least two years of my life were not spent in a dungeon.

However, I spent five full years under the stress of "I might write another article that is considered an insult and the decision against me will be implemented."

*

Years passed. I met Ali Özgündüz at the Justice March of the CHP, where he was an MP at the time...

He was walking arm in arm with ten or fifteen MPs.

I got in front of them and started walking backwards while telling this story to the politicians and citizens next to Mr. Ali.

I finished my words by shouting "Rights, law, justice," which was the slogan of that march.

Mr. Ali just watched me with a smile.

*

I learned yesterday that... A similar incident happened to Mustafa Büyüksipahi, Editor-in-Chief of 12punto.com.tr, and Nagihan Yılkın, a reporter for Cumhuriyet Newspaper...

The third hearing of the criminal case filed against these two journalist colleagues of mine was held yesterday at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance...

Their crime was reporting on a criminal complaint against Davut Gül, the former Governor of Gaziantep and current Governor of Istanbul...

In this criminal complaint, it was alleged that Governor Gül did not fight against the bribery network and allowed his staff to accept bribes.

The prosecutor reiterated his opinion on the merits at yesterday's hearing and claimed that the expressions in the news article subject to the lawsuit "were aimed at damaging the reputation of the complainant in society and that the legal elements of the crime of insult had been formed."

He requested that both journalists be banned from politics and sentenced to prison for 3 months to 2 years...

The court adjourned the hearing to February 15, 2024...

*

How is it; the incident is very similar to what happened to me, isn't it?

I wrote about the Prosecutor, they wrote about the Governor.

But the office has once again prevailed over freedom of the press...

The Prosecutor could not say, "When there is corruption, reporting on corruption cannot be a crime," and he slapped the lawsuit on them...

*

Two years in prison is not enough, gentlemen, hang Mustafa Büyüksipahi! Crucify Nagihan Yılkın too...

Does anyone ever report on such a criminal complaint against a state governor?

Why don't you ignore it, Mustafa?

Why don't you stay silent, Nagihan?

*

My dear Prosecutor, my dear Governor...

The times will surely change one day!

And the Mustafa and Nagihan you are judging today will one day stand before you and shout "Rights, law, justice" while looking you straight in the eyes!

Have no doubt about it!