A strange Cevheri Güven case!

The trial continued for police officer Serkan Dinçer, who works at the Ankara Narcotics Branch and is accused of leaking information and documents to the fugitive Cevheri Güven—who is involved in the media structure of “FETÖ”—as well as the three police chiefs who conducted the Bora Kaplan operation. When one of the witnesses heard in today's session stated that they did not know Serkan Dinçer, Dinçer replied, “I had a heart attack in prison last year. For this reason, I may have changed physically. He has also changed anyway.” Another witness, who is a police officer, stated that the person who made the reports alleging that he leaked information and documents to Serkan Dinçer was his sister's ex-fiancé, and that he did not know Dinçer. The person who made the reports in question, and who is currently in prison for the crime of intentional injury, explained that he heard these allegations from his ex-fiancée. The court decided to continue the detention of Serkan Dinçer, who has been imprisoned for 18 months, and to hear the ex-fiancée as a witness in the next session.

The only detained defendant in the case heard at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court, Serkan Dinçer, is accused of “being a member of an armed terrorist organization,” while the former Ankara Deputy Police Chief who conducted the Bora Kaplan operation, Murat Çelik, as well as former Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) Branch Manager Kerem Gökay Öner and Branch Deputy Manager Şevket Demircan, are accused of “committing crimes on behalf of an organization despite not being a member, violating confidentiality, and misconduct in office.”

In today's session, attended by Serkan Dinçer, former KOM Branch Manager Kerem Gökay Öner, and their lawyers, I.A., who Serkan Dinçer said was his childhood friend from Trabzon, was heard via the SEGBİS video conferencing system. While showing the defendants to I.A., the Presiding Judge said to Kerem Gökay Öner, “We exempted you from attendance, but you come to every session.”

Stating that he had been processed for FETÖ and received an 8-year prison sentence, witness I.A. noted that he did not know any of the defendants, that he had an acquaintance named Serkan, but that he studied physics, and asked what Serkan Dinçer did for a living. When the Presiding Judge replied, “He is a police officer,” I.A. said, “I don't know if he is a police officer or not. His face does not look familiar at all.”

Upon the Presiding Judge's questions, defendant Serkan Dinçer explained that he was also a physics graduate and that he had last seen I.A. between 2007 and 2010, then said, “I had a heart attack in prison last year. For this reason, I may have changed physically. He has also changed anyway.”

REPORTS STEMMING FROM FAMILY FEUDS

The second witness heard was police officer A.S., who works in Milas and about whom an anonymous report was made to the Muğla 112 emergency line claiming that he was “a close friend of Serkan Dinçer, who leaks information to Cevheri Güven.”

Stating that he did not know Serkan Dinçer or the other defendants, A.S. explained the following:

“The person who made these reports about me is M.O., my sister's ex-boyfriend. He constantly complains about me with baseless reports. Because of this, we have nearly 40 complaints, and our troubles continue. I underwent investigations because of him, and I was cleared of all of them. He even received a sentence because of these accusations he directed at me.”

After A.S., M.O., who is currently in prison for the crime of intentional injury, was heard as a witness. While M.O. stated that he did not know the defendants, he asked about Serkan Dinçer, “Is he an insurance agent?”

Explaining that police officer A.S. was the brother of his ex-fiancée and that he had reported him directly to CİMER (Presidential Communication Center) rather than anonymously, M.O. made the following allegations:

“I learned from my fiancée that her brother became a police officer thanks to the organization, and that their aunts were acting as 'neighborhood sisters' (mahalle ablalığı) in the Mut district of Mersin. She also said that her brother was meeting with Serkan Dinçer. I have information based on hearsay, not on observation. I filed a complaint against A.S. after he accessed my hotel records via POLNET using illegal methods.”

When the Presiding Judge asked, “Did A.S. file a complaint against you? Did you receive a sentence?” M.O. replied, “No,” and when asked by Serkan Dinçer's lawyer about the status of his relationship with his fiancée, he answered, “I ended my relationship in January 2022 when I learned about these family ties.”

When the lawyer reminded him that he had asked if Serkan Dinçer was “an insurance agent,” M.O. noted that there might be a similarity in names, but that the Serkan he was talking about was not the person he was seeing.

Upon this, Serkan Dinçer's lawyer said, “There are contradictions in the reports and statements. Baseless reports made due to a family feud cannot be the subject of this file.”

Following the witness testimonies, the Prosecutor requested that Serkan Dinçer's detention continue and that the file be referred to the Prosecutor's Office for the preparation of the final opinion on the merits.

Asked for his statement against the Prosecutor's opinion, Serkan Dinçer stated that he had been detained for 18 months, that he could not understand on what evidence his continued detention was requested, that he had insisted he had no connection with Cevheri Güven, and that he had not gotten anywhere despite explaining that he was coded as an “enemy” by “FETÖ.” He said that he ended up in this situation because of the friendship between former Police Chief K.A. and defendant Murat Çelik, adding, “It is not important whether witness I.A. remembers me or not. I have never had any connection with FETÖ.”

Upon these statements, the Presiding Judge reacted to Serkan Dinçer, saying, “You cannot speak in a flippant manner; I am warning you,” while his lawyer stated that there was no concrete information or document regarding Dinçer, and that the case was entirely a file consisting of his feud with K.A.

The other defense lawyers stated that their clients were losing their reputations as the trial dragged on, and that the entire Police organization was urgently waiting for this case to be concluded.

At the end of the hearing, the Court decided to continue Serkan Dinçer's detention, to refer the file to the Prosecutor's Office for the preparation of the final opinion on the merits, and to hear the ex-fiancée mentioned in the statements as a witness in the next session. The case was adjourned to July 11.

Müyesser YILDIZ

May 15, 2025