Bora Kaplan Case: Is that phone missing now too?!

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the news of another operation at 07:58 the morning before last. Yerlikaya announced that Serdar Sertçelik, an executive of the “Ayhan Bora Kaplan organized crime group” who was captured and arrested in Hungary on May 25, 2024, “was brought to our country by officials from the General Directorate of Security’s KOM Department and the Interpol-Europol Department, along with Hungarian police.”

Let us first recall who Serdar Sertçelik is; he was both the second defendant and the secret witness codenamed M7 in the “Ayhan Bora Kaplan organized crime group” case. While under house arrest with an electronic tag, he fled abroad on November 27, 2023, upon learning he was about to be detained. Yes, as Minister Yerlikaya stated, he was captured and arrested in Hungary, but he was later released and granted asylum.

What we mean to say is; it is inherently interesting that Hungary, under Viktor Orbán—who prayed for Erdoğan to win the 2023 elections and is as thick as thieves with him—handed over Serdar Sertçelik after 19 months.

The real intrigue is this: while the Bora Kaplan operation was linked to the struggle between former Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu and the police teams reporting to the current Minister Yerlikaya, the return of Serdar Sertçelik—and especially what he might say if he speaks—will be very important in any case.

Specifically: In the broadcasts he made on social media accounts about 6 months after fleeing, Serdar Sertçelik not only revealed that he was the secret witness codenamed M7, but also claimed that his 19-page statement was fabricated by the police who carried out the Bora Kaplan operation, and further alleged that while he was abroad, they called him and asked him to come and testify in court and name certain politicians, which further strengthened the claims of a “political settling of scores.”

A CASE WITHIN A CASE

Ultimately, MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli, known for his support of Soylu, characterized the Bora Kaplan operation as a “coup against the MHP, the AKP, and the People’s Alliance” and reacted as follows:

“It is seen that ignoble and crypto gangs nested within the police and judiciary are once again making calculations over Turkey... Anyone who protects and serves the conspiracy to smear honorable names with secret witness statements and the quest to overshadow the manifested national will is a traitor, a hashshashin; the police, judiciary, and media extensions must be cracked down upon.”

Following this reaction from Bahçeli, an operation was carried out against the police officers who conducted the Bora Kaplan operation. They were first suspended, then some were arrested, and a lawsuit was filed against them on charges of negligence in the escape of Serdar Sertçelik.

The cases linked to Bora Kaplan were not limited to these; along with Narcotics police officer Serkan Dinçer, who was arrested on charges of leaking Kaplan’s statements at the police station and the criminal judgeship of peace to the fugitive “FETÖ” member Cevheri Güven, the then-Ankara Deputy Police Chief Murat Çelik, KOM Director Kerem Gökay Öner, and his deputy Şevket Demircan, who conducted the Kaplan operation, also began to be tried for “violation of confidentiality and misconduct in office.”

Finally, last September, an investigation was opened against some of Bora Kaplan’s lawyers and some police officers regarding a mobile phone stated to be “found.”

To understand the whole picture, let us first summarize the progress of these cases and investigations:

- In the case heard at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court, Bora Kaplan was sentenced to 68 years in prison on charges of being the leader of a criminal organization. However, last October, upon the objection of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the decision of the Board of Presidents of Criminal Chambers, the 1st Criminal Chamber overturned the 14-year-and-9-month portion of this sentence it had previously upheld and decided that the case should be retried. Along with this, a decision was made to merge the file of Serdar Sertçelik, which had been separated from the main case, and the case in which the police officers who conducted the Bora Kaplan operation are being tried, with the main case to be retried.

- In the case filed against the police officers at the Ankara 13th Criminal Court of First Instance on charges of negligence in Serdar Sertçelik’s escape, a “lack of jurisdiction” decision was given after three hearings, and the file was sent to the high criminal court. However, the 33rd High Criminal Court also said, “I lack jurisdiction.” Since November, the decision of the Court of Appeal regarding which court is authorized has been awaited.

- In the case heard at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court, where former Narcotics police officer Serkan Dinçer and the three former KOM directors who conducted the Kaplan operation are being tried on charges of leaking Kaplan’s statements to Cevheri Güven, the prosecutor presented his opinion on the merits and requested that Dinçer be sentenced to 10 years and the police officers to up to 5 years. While the defendants’ defenses against the opinion on the merits were awaited, the court panel changed. The case is ongoing because the new presiding judge stated that there are other issues that need to be investigated.

- Last September, a secret investigation was launched based on the allegation that there were certain WhatsApp correspondences between Serdar Sertçelik and Bora Kaplan’s fugitive lawyer Cengiz Haliç and retired police officer Önder Polat on a found phone, which some claimed was sent by Serdar Sertçelik and others claimed was found in front of the door of one of the police officers on trial. Within the scope of the investigation, 9 people were detained at the end of November, and while three people, including Kaplan’s lawyer Tarık Teoman, were arrested, an arrest warrant was issued for Cengiz Haliç.

CEVHERİ GÜVEN AND THE FOUND PHONE

According to the information we have obtained, following the emergence of the investigation regarding the found phone, Serdar Sertçelik sent the following statement, which he wrote by hand on December 3, to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office from Budapest via his lawyer:

“I learned that an investigation is being conducted due to WhatsApp correspondences on a phone that is alleged to have been sent by me, and that my name is being used in this investigation. I absolutely do not have such a phone. I did not send such a phone, therefore this phone and the correspondences do not belong to me.”

The other suspects defended themselves by stating that those correspondences did not belong to them and could have been written by ‘hackers’.

Last month, the found phone investigation and the Cevheri Güven case intersected with a quite remarkable development as follows:

The Prosecutor, who conducted both the Bora Kaplan main case investigation and this latest investigation, sent a two-page letter to the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court, where the Cevheri Güven case is being heard, on January 12, stamped “Detained file is important.” After stating that it was understood that the Cevheri Güven case would be held on January 20, he conveyed some correspondences on the found phone, especially regarding the leaking of Bora Kaplan’s statements. In a sense, before the hearing, he gave the message: “It has been determined that Bora Kaplan’s statements were not leaked to Cevheri Güven by the police officers on trial, but by Kaplan’s lawyers and Serdar Sertçelik.” When journalist Alican Uludağ first published the letter in question, an access ban was immediately imposed.

THE COURT MADE SUCH A DECISION

After these curiosities, let us also recall what happened at the hearing on January 20.

The Presiding Judge read the letter that had been subjected to an access ban and entered it into the records. The lawyers for Serkan Dinçer, the only detained defendant in the case, and the police officers being tried without detention, emphasized that with this letter sent by the prosecutor, it had been revealed who leaked Bora Kaplan’s statements to Cevheri Güven, and requested an acquittal. Upon a lawyer saying, “We did not want to show what a FETÖ member said as evidence, but Cevheri Güven said in a broadcast, mocking, ‘I didn’t get them from these people, I got them from Bora Kaplan’s men.’ In the end, what a FETÖ member said turned out to be true. It’s a good thing we were proven right,” the Presiding Judge expressed his reaction to the prosecutor’s letter with these words:

“The prosecutor’s letter becomes the subject of broadcasts before it even reaches my desk. This shows how they still work. But such broadcasts are not to be taken seriously by the judiciary. We will already file a criminal complaint about this. If the late Necip Hablemitoğlu were alive, he would probably have rightly published Mole 2 and 3.”

The court’s reaction was also reflected in the decisions taken; it was decided to ask the Prosecutor’s Office “how, where, and by whom the phone containing the WhatsApp correspondences was seized, if it was seized in any operation, whether there are images related to this, whether fingerprint research was done on the phone, whether the real user of the line was identified considering the multitude of fake users, and what the allegation that the phone mentioned in the correspondences belongs to Cevheri Güven is based on,” and also to request the entire technical report regarding the phone.

DID THE PHONE FLEE TOO?

After all this, let us convey the latest developments that have practically shaken the courthouse corridors.

According to the allegations, upon these interim decisions of the Court, the prosecutor who conducted the investigation and sent that letter requested the found phone in question and other information related to it from the Police.

However, it was reported that the phone was lost and could not be found.

Upon this, the prosecutor first wrote to the Criminal Judgeship of Peace for the release of Bora Kaplan’s lawyer, Tarık Teoman, who has been detained for 2 months solely because his name was mentioned in the WhatsApp correspondences. The Criminal Judgeship of Peace rejected the request, stating that the prosecutor also has the authority to release in the ongoing investigation. The objection made to the Criminal Court of First Instance regarding the rejection was also not accepted.

INTERESTING PRACTICE FOR SERDAR SERTÇELİK

Let us end with a note from the interrogation of Serdar Sertçelik, who Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the morning before last had been brought to Turkey and who was arrested on the evening of the same day.

As we have learned, the Prosecutor showed Sertçelik some correspondences and messages and played some voice recordings.

Sertçelik, stating that he had no documents in his possession, requested that a date be given for February 9 for his defense. This was accepted. A very interesting practice, isn’t it?!

It is understood that even if the Bora Kaplan case has fallen off the country’s agenda, it will continue to shake the world of politics, but especially the judiciary and the police, from within.