Presidential lawyer: 'There is no need to create a perception that we are chasing citizens and attacking them'

In 2010, Hüseyin Çelik, then-AKP Deputy Chairman and Party Spokesperson, who participated in Fatih Altaylı’s Teke Tek program, answered a question regarding parliamentary immunity as follows:

“I trust the judiciary as an institution, but I do not trust every judge. Any insult directed at us is evaluated in court as ‘harsh criticism.’ We have no intention of throwing our deputies to the wolves like gladiators… First, the judiciary must be impartial... There are judges who are politicized to their throats and tainted by ideology. We are trying to change the structure of the HSYK (Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors). If the people currently at the head of the HSYK had the authority when you touched them, they would have thrown the ministers, starting with the Prime Minister, into prison one by one.”

15 years later, following hints from the Palace circle that “the water is getting hot,” Fatih Altaylı joined the caravan of those thrown into prison. On top of that, he was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison, and it was decided that his detention would continue.

According to the indictment prepared as a result of the investigation launched ex officio by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Altaylı’s “crime” is; “threat by mentioning a physical attack on the President”!..

You would think he was caught red-handed with plans and attack tools prepared with his men. But the sole “evidence” is an evaluation Altaylı made alone on his YouTube channel regarding some events that took place in Ottoman history.

Indeed, Altaylı stated in his defense, “It is not very possible for the speech I made to create fear in the President. There are 4,000 personnel working in the Presidential Security Department. After my broadcast, I asked, ‘Has there been any change in the President’s schedule?’ Neither after my broadcast nor at any other time was there any change in the President’s schedule... I am not a member of an organization; I am a citizen standing before you. When you know the President, he is someone who has fought with Israel and has not been afraid of Mossad.”

Even some AKP members reacted not so much to the sentence given to Altaylı, but to the decision to continue his detention.

But it was particularly meaningful that Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç emphasized, as if others or other places had such powers, that “the decision was made by the court of first instance and the discretion regarding whether or not to continue detention belongs entirely to the court”!..

We started the article with Hüseyin Çelik’s words from 15 years ago because yesterday he also criticized the Altaylı decision and summarized it as follows:

“Altaylı’s statements may draw reaction in a truly functioning state of law and a democracy built on solid foundations; but they can never be the subject of criminal prosecution... One should not fear a society that speaks, but a society that has become silent under the pressure of authority and is accumulating gas inside. Journalists and politicians may occasionally make speeches that exceed the purpose and limits or go overboard, getting caught up in the lust of words. In this case, the interlocutors come out and give the necessary answers; if necessary, material and moral compensation lawsuits are filed. This is the natural mechanism of democratic functioning. A country where opposition journalists and politicians are put in prison even if they speak harshly means it has lost its checks and balances mechanisms.”

What Happened in Another Insult to the President Case

At the hours when Hüseyin Çelik made that statement, there was another “insult to the President” case at the Ankara 44th Criminal Court of First Instance.

The defendant was Sabri Uzun, former Head of the Intelligence Department of the General Directorate of Security.

As for the subject of the case; at the beginning of this year, while the genocide in Gaza was continuing at full speed and Turkey’s commercial relations with Israel began to be questioned, Sabri Uzun made the following post:

“The father sent fuel and steel to Israel and was applauded. The son protested Israel; he was applauded. Such a nation deserves not democracy, but the rule of a Sultan. This is what an uneducated society looks like.”

The very next day, an investigation was launched ex officio by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on charges of “insulting the President,” and Uzun was detained at his home in Ankara and taken to Istanbul.

After one day of detention, the Prosecutor’s Office requested Uzun’s arrest, stating that the post in question was “of a nature to offend the honor, dignity, and respectability of the President.” Uzun made the following defenses at the Prosecutor’s Office and the 8th Criminal Judgeship of Peace:

“[In the post] I was talking about the materials sent to Israel by containers from ports at home and abroad. The companies sending these loads are private companies, I don’t know who the owners are. The President is not someone who deals with import-export and makes regulations on this matter. I meant the merchants who trade. I don’t say ‘his son’ in the post, I say ‘the boy’ (oğlan). I don’t say the President’s or anyone else’s son. I made an evaluation in the nature of determining the state of society.”

While the Istanbul 8th Criminal Judgeship of Peace decided to release Uzun with the judicial control measure of a ban on traveling abroad, the indictment later prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office demanded that Uzun be sentenced to 1 year and 8 months to 6 years and 8 months in prison for “publicly degrading the Turkish Nation” and “publicly insulting the President,” and also be deprived of using certain rights.

However, the Istanbul 18th Criminal Court of First Instance sent the file to Ankara with a decision of “lack of jurisdiction.”

Yesterday, the first hearing of this case was held at the Ankara 44th Criminal Court of First Instance.

Stating in his defense that he repeated his statement at the Istanbul 8th Criminal Judgeship of Peace, Sabri Uzun was content with saying, “I did not mean any authority, let alone the President. I was also surprised that such a case was opened.”

The judge asked what the expression “the boy” in the post meant.

Uzun replied, “I don’t say ‘his son,’ I say ‘the boy.’ The merchants are clear. I am pointing out the merchants worldwide and a contradiction.”

When the judge asked, “What is the contradiction about?” Uzun said the following:

“Someone is trading, they are applauded. The one who criticizes the one trading is also applauded. I wanted to explain this contradiction. I did not mean anyone across Turkey. Let it not go into the record, let me explain with an example; Galileo was tried on charges of opposing the Church because he said, ‘The Earth is rotating.’ However, he did not mean the Church. I did not mean anyone from Turkey either.”

The Rebellion of the 45-Year Lawyer

His lawyer, Muzaffer Özbayrak, went beyond defending Uzun and rebelled against what happened as follows:

“I have been a lawyer for 45 years; I am surprised that Turkey and the judiciary have fallen into this state. Nearly 1 million such insult to the President cases have been opened, I cannot believe it. Has such trade with Israel taken place, does the Presidency accept it? If it accepts it, it means my client has expressed a situation. If it does not accept it, there is no crime. Turkey has fallen into a very bad situation. Will no one speak, will they not express their opinion? Will everything be considered an insult to the President?”

The Reaction of the Presidential Lawyer

Upon this, the Presidential lawyer, instead of explaining why they were complaining about Sabri Uzun, made these interesting statements:

“There are not 1 million cases. There is no need to create such a perception. If one researches, one will also see the acquittal rate in insult cases. The cases are not opened upon our complaint. They are learned after the results of the investigations carried out ex officio by the Prosecutor’s Offices are notified to us. The files in question are also files where a decision to join was made after this stage. There is no need to create a perception that we are chasing citizens and attacking them.”

Taking the floor again, Lawyer Muzaffer Özbayrak reminded that the alleged crime was committed in Ankara and that Uzun resided in Ankara, saying, “The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office does not investigate, but the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office investigates. Everything is gathered there. I cannot understand this.”

After the statements were completed, the Prosecutor requested time to prepare his opinion, and the hearing was adjourned to February 17.

The Presidential lawyer says “perception,” but the facts are also there!.. And if perceptions have overtaken facts; what is the reason, who is responsible?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

November 28, 2025