What came out of Hablemitoğlu’s final footage?

A political assassination was carried out in broad daylight in the middle of Ankara against former Idealist Hearths (Ülkü Ocakları) President Assoc. Prof. Sinan Ateş. Twenty people, including the gunman and the instigator, as well as those alleged to have assisted them, were apprehended. While the indictment for the assassination was prepared approximately 1.5 years later, the trial proceeded at jet speed last week. After a 5-day trial, 10 of the defendants were released, and the file was handed over to the prosecutor to prepare the final opinion on the merits.

His family and a large portion of the public were of the opinion that this was a political murder. However, the picture that emerged after the developments in question has, for now, become: “It was a debt-collection issue!”..

Given the trajectory, the Ateş assassination seems likely to be talked about for decades to come.

Two years ago, another assassination that had been talked about for decades was on the agenda. It was said that it had been solved and that the real instigators and perpetrators had been caught.

That was the assassination of another academic, Assoc. Prof. Necip Hablemitoğlu, which also took place in Ankara on December 18, 2002.

According to the indictment prepared 20 years later, the Hablemitoğlu assassination was “carried out by a group of officers from the Special Forces Command affiliated with the organization of retired Colonel Levent Göktaş, at the instigation of FETÖ, and Tarkan Mumcuoğlu pulled the trigger.”

However, during the trial process that began in February 2023, developments occurred that did not confirm these findings in the indictment. In the second period of the trial in May, when Tarkan Mumcuoğlu, who was alleged to be the “gunman,” proved with witnesses and documents that he was in Kazakhstan on the date of the assassination, all defendants were released.

The trial, which has 10 defendants in total, three of whom are fugitives, and which has left 17 months behind, will continue next week.

The Important Witness Who Knew the Instigator Could Not Be Heard

Let us report on the developments regarding some important issues for the fate of the case.

The first is the allegation that the organizers of the Hablemitoğlu assassination were Enver Altaylı and the so-called Turkey imam of “FETÖ,” Mustafa Özcan. The basis for this connection was largely the testimony given by former Minister of Health Halil Şıvgın in 2016.

In summary, Şıvgın had stated that Hablemitoğlu came to his office with former AKP Deputy Ramazan Toprak, that Enver Altaylı arrived as they were leaving, that Altaylı asked “Who are they?”, that he explained it to him, and thus Altaylı learned that Hablemitoğlu was working on the Gülen community, that Altaylı later introduced him to Mustafa Özcan, that when Özcan wanted to meet with Hablemitoğlu, he replied, “I will not get involved,” and that he subsequently informed Hablemitoğlu.

Naturally, the Court decided that both Halil Şıvgın and Ramazan Toprak should be heard as witnesses. However, while Şıvgın did not attend the hearings on the grounds that he was ill, Toprak denied Şıvgın’s accounts.

Finally, at the hearing on March 4-8, the Court decided to go to Şıvgın’s home to take his testimony.

In accordance with this decision, a hearing was held at Şıvgın’s home on April 29, with audio and video recordings taken. At the hearing, where the Hablemitoğlu family’s lawyer Ersan Barkın and Enver Altaylı’s lawyer Dilara Yılmaz were also present, it was understood that “due to the illnesses in the reports submitted to the file, he could not fully comprehend what was being said, and he could not express himself clearly except for simple questions,” so Şıvgın’s testimony could not be taken.

The prosecutor and the lawyers also agreed with this assessment regarding Şıvgın’s condition. While Prosecutor Zafer Ergün and lawyer Ersan Barkın stated that Şıvgın’s previous testimony was sufficient for the file, lawyer Dilara Yılmaz said, “The most important reason for my client’s inclusion in the investigation was Halil Şıvgın’s statements. We had important questions for him, but it is obvious that he cannot give meaningful answers to our questions. Since we cannot resort to his testimony, we are of the opinion that it would not be correct to take into account any of the statements he gave during the investigation phase.”

In short, one of the most important witnesses in the case could not be heard in the presence of the Court.

It Turns Out There Were Three People Following Him, Not Two

The second very important issue for the fate of the case was the footage of Hablemitoğlu from the conference he attended in Eskişehir on December 14, 2002, titled “The Threat of Reactionism and Turkey,” four days before he was killed, and from the Migros store where he shopped just before he was killed on December 18.

It had been decided to investigate whether the two people thought to be following Hablemitoğlu at Migros were also at the Eskişehir conference and whether these people resembled the defendants.

After this decision by the Court, we previously explained in detail the process through which the footage of the Eskişehir conference, in particular, was found. To summarize: The Ankara Police said, “Ask the Prosecutor’s Office”... Then, it was reported that “the Police archive was flooded on July 15”... Ultimately, it turned out that the footage was in the Courthouse Evidence Office!..

Once the Eskişehir footage was found and brought in, the Court gave both sets of footage to an expert on April 4.

The expert prepared their report the day before yesterday and sent it to the Court.

Until today, it was said that two people were following Hablemitoğlu at Migros.

However, the 28-page expert report stated that “it is thought that 3 people were following” Hablemitoğlu.

In addition, “photographs of suspicious persons thought to show a resemblance in terms of physical description” among those who attended the conference in Eskişehir were marked alongside these three people.

The expert responded as follows to the question of whether these identified persons were among the defendants:

“Since detailed facial photographs that could be used for comparison could not be obtained due to the distance of the people thought to be following Necip Hablemitoğlu inside the store from the camera, there is no possibility of making a comparison with the individuals who were present as audience members at the conference in Eskişehir, and since there are no physical description photographs of the defendants in the case file, no physical description comparison or identification could be made. We state that if deemed necessary by your Court, if current photographs of the defendants in the case are provided along with those from the date of the incident, December 18, 2002, a re-examination and evaluation will be made on all the footage.”

It seems that in the coming process, an attempt will be made to reach a conclusion by looking at the resemblance between the defendants’ photographs from 22 years ago and the suspicious persons in the footage.

The HTS Report That Has Not Been Finished for 17 Months

The most important “evidence” of the Hablemitoğlu assassination was the HTS records of the defendants from 2002-2003. According to these records sent by the MIT (National Intelligence Organization), the assassination had been solved.

However, when inaccuracies in these records emerged during the trial process, the Court decided at the very first hearing that the records should be sent to an expert.

The expert did not prepare their report within the given time. The Court warned them repeatedly. Finally, at the hearing on March 8, the expert was given another 1 month with a “warning notice.” According to this final deadline, the expert was supposed to submit the report on April 8. But as of yesterday, there was still nothing that had reached the court.

Yes, even though not many people are interested anymore, this is the latest situation in the Hablemitoğlu assassination case. What is wondered about for the hearing period starting on Tuesday is whether Kemalettin Özdemir (KÖZ), who is known to have been the “FETÖ Police Imam” of the period and who was decided to be heard as a witness, will come, and if he does, what he will say!..