What was said in a courtroom 78 days before Mehmet Akif Ersoy was arrested...

When Habertürk Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Akif Ersoy was detained and arrested as part of a narcotics operation, he stated that a “very clear political operation” was being conducted against him, saying, “My phones had been wiretapped by FETÖ before... Many of us know the point that law has reached in Turkey; I think they have set their minds on arresting me.” He later stated that he had “exceeded the intended meaning” and that he was not targeting judicial authorities with those words.

A few days after Ersoy’s arrest, the pro-government newspaper Sabah claimed that the allegations extended to the Presidential Communications Directorate and named Furkan T. When journalist Barış Terkoğlu announced that this person was Furkan Torlak, the Coordinator of the Center for Combating Disinformation, Torlak announced that he had resigned to prevent the institution from being damaged, despite there being no accusations against him.

With the Ersoy operation, claims were brought to the agenda that the incident was “an indicator of intra-government wars” and that “Mehmet Akif Ersoy was known for his closeness to Hakan Fidan,” while the Selam Tevhid organization investigation, which was said to have been conducted in the past by “FETÖ” prosecutors and police, was remembered most of all.

It was recounted that Mehmet Akif Ersoy was wiretapped as a suspect within the scope of this investigation while he was a TRT Cairo correspondent in 2013, and that among those wiretapped was Ersoy’s father, Nadir Ersoy, who was a supporter of the Iranian Islamic revolution in the 1990s; it was explained that in one of the phone conversations, it was learned that the elder Ersoy had sent his son to Syria for training and that Furkan Torlak was also with him... Furthermore, claims were voiced on social media that Mehmet Akif Ersoy had received training at a Shia school in Damascus and that his father had said, “I dedicated him to Iran.”

What was the Selam Tevhid investigation, which was characterized as a “FETÖ setup” after December 17/25; let us summarize briefly:

In February 2014, it was announced that “the biggest wiretapping scandal in history had emerged” and that the “parallel structure had wiretapped more than 7 thousand names, from MIT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan to Interior Minister Efkan Ala, as ‘terrorist organization members’.”

In the 1,200-page investigation report prepared for the Police Department on this subject in August 2014, it was emphasized that “the investigation began with the aim of uncovering the Selam organization, but was diverted from its purpose,” and the following details were included:

“It is stated that the Selam Tevhid investigation began with the testimony given to the Police by a woman named Kâmile Yazıcıoğlu, and that Nurettin Şirin, whose name was mentioned in this testimony, was followed as a ‘suspect’ on the grounds that he was the leader of the Selam Tevhid organization... One of the names placed under technical surveillance is Furkan Torlak, an advisor to AKP Deputy Chairman Numan Kurtulmuş. The reason for Furkan Torlak’s inclusion in the investigation in September 2012 is ‘a conversation he had with a suspect wiretapped within the scope of the investigation.’ The report states that Numan Kurtulmuş also made some of his conversations through Torlak’s phone, and thus his conversations were also caught in technical surveillance... The police report also contains references to the sections regarding MIT in the Selam investigation. It is stated that an attempt was made to create a perception that MIT was linked to both the KCK and Iran, and that the close circle of the MIT undersecretary was placed under surveillance.”

Again, at that time, a list of 242 people was published, saying, “If the parallel organization could have achieved its goal, it would have detained exactly 242 people within the scope of the Tevhid Selam Jerusalem Army terrorist organization investigation.” Furkan Torlak was listed at number 142 as “Numan Kurtulmuş’s private secretary,” journalist Mehmet Akif Ersoy at number 142, his father Nadir Ersoy at number 167, and Furkan Torlak’s wife at number 206.

Ultimately, after the indictment prepared by the then-Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of Istanbul, İrfan Fidan, in October 2015, a lawsuit was filed against those who conducted these wiretaps.

ONE MORE INDICTMENT 15 YEARS LATER

Apart from the main case, other lawsuits were filed in different courts on the same subject. In some, sentences were given, and some charges were dropped due to the statute of limitations.

For example, another Selam Tevhid file heard at the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court was merged with a new file at the 13th High Criminal Court on January 2nd. The defendants of this case, which began its investigation in 2017 and covers the wiretaps between 2008 and 2012, are the police officers who served in the Intelligence Branch, primarily the then-Istanbul Intelligence Branch Manager Erol Demirhan.

There was a hearing for this case, which was filed with charges of “violating the confidentiality of communication, recording personal data unlawfully, forgery of official documents, violating the privacy of private life, slander, and misconduct in office,” on September 24th.

Defendant Erol Demirhan stated that he had been tried for the same charges before and that a verdict had been reached, and that although all wiretaps had reached the statute of limitations as of February 2024, this case was opened with an indictment prepared on May 8, 2024. He argued that the wiretaps they conducted were of an intelligence nature, were carried out in accordance with the law, that no audio or video recordings regarding anyone’s private life were taken, that these wiretaps were in no way used as evidence against the individuals, were not presented for the use of judicial authorities, that the data obtained were destroyed within the legal period, and that only the transcripts were kept in archives for audits. He claimed that these were not disclosed by them, but by the police or prosecutors who conducted the investigation against them, and that while there were 462 victims in the indictment, there was not a single complainant.

WHAT A COINCIDENCE

Before making these defenses, Erol Demirhan provided very detailed information about the process, saying, “I want to give information about the Selam Tevhid Terrorist Organization, which is the reason for the construction of the indictment.”

Demirhan explained that the existence of a group called Selam Tevhid was determined after the organization’s archive was reached in the operation carried out on January 17, 2000, on the Hezbollah cell house in Beykoz, Istanbul, where the organization’s leader Hüseyin Velioğlu was also located, and that the organization was largely dismantled. He stated that work was initiated regarding those whose names were mentioned in the information given by Kamile Yazıcıoğlu, the wife of Hüseyin Avni Yazıcıoğlu, who operated within the organization, upon her tip-off in 2010. He explained that in these examinations, new information/documents not subject to the 2000 file were found, and that small structures consisting of an Iranian at the head of every small cell group, a Turkish deputy under him, and group officials were identified, as in the early periods. He also said that it was understood that Hüseyin Avni Yazıcıoğlu held meetings with public officials and certain journalists-writers while working on various subjects requested of him and turned these into reports. For example, he said the following regarding the names currently on the agenda:

“Among the information received were digital and physical resumes and biographical information forms of other people belonging to Hüseyin Avni Yazıcıoğlu. Among these is the Hakan Fidan resume report... The sons of many people whose names were mentioned in the studies conducted in 2000 have been followed as suspects in investigations today. Namely, Furkan Torlak, the son of Hamdi Torlak, who is mentioned as the founder of Selam magazine; Yasir Dumlupınar, the son of Mehmet Dumlupınar, one of the managers of Selam newspaper and foundation; Mehmet Akif Ersoy, the son of Nadir Ersoy; Ahmet Kılıç, the son of Hasan Kılıç; and Muhammed Enes Alban, the son of Cemaleddin Yılmaz Alban, who was in contact with Hüseyin Avni Yazıcıoğlu and whose company prepared reports to be given to Iranians, are some of these. It has been determined that suspects such as Furkan Torlak, Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Tarık Taylan, Fatih Er, and Yasin Sıtkıpınar received training in regions called Shia basins in Syria for a period. The individuals do not want it to be revealed that they received training in Syria.”

In short; it must be an interesting coincidence that this subject, which had almost been forgotten, was brought to the agenda in this way in a courtroom in Istanbul 78 days before Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s arrest, and that all of this was naturally remembered after Ersoy’s arrest.

IS IT A SETUP OR NOT?

We mentioned that the Selam Tevhid file was called a “FETÖ setup.” But look at what kind of news was published in a pro-government media outlet five days ago?

The news titled “Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s arrest caused an earthquake effect in Iranian intelligence” is exactly as follows:

“The situation of Habertürk TV Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Akif Ersoy, who was arrested as part of the investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, caused a major earthquake effect not only in the media world but also across the border. The allegation that Ersoy, who has been presented to the public for years with an Islamist and national identity mask, is actually part of a secret mechanism serving Tehran’s insidious plans in the region is shaking the agenda. The arrest of a name ‘polished’ in the media world is interpreted as one of the harshest messages given to the centers conducting dirty operations through Turkey. According to the published analyses, with Ersoy’s arrest, the infiltration activities of Iranian intelligence within Turkey received a major blow. The ‘influence network’ established by Tehran through names that have been under official surveillance for 12 years and whose every step has been monitored was destroyed by the determined operation of the Turkish police. One of the most striking claims in the news was this structure’s dream of establishing an ‘armed militia force’ in Turkey similar to those in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. This dark ideology, fed by the ‘Selam Tevhid’ connections and Qasem Soleimani admiration carried out through Mehmet Akif Ersoy’s father Nadir Ersoy, was targeting Turkey’s internal peace. With Ersoy’s arrest, a ‘stop’ was practically said to the Turkish leg of that mentality that sheds Muslim blood in Syria. The story of Ersoy, who received ‘basin training’ in Iranian centers in Syria at the age of 16 and then rose at rocket speed in the state’s most critical institutions, is in the nature of the anatomy of an insidious infiltration operation. In the analyses, it is argued that the sensitive duties Ersoy received in institutions such as TRT and the Presidency of Religious Affairs were actually designed as an ‘influence agent.’ It is stated that with the Tehran administration losing this most important figure in Turkey, the propaganda and disinformation mechanism in the region has been paralyzed. The issue is not just drugs or personal crimes; it is emphasized that the real issue is Turkey’s survival. The individual exposure of the names at the center of the plans to make Turkey an ‘Iranian satellite’ created a panic atmosphere in Tehran. Ersoy’s arrest was recorded as a historic turning point showing that the end of the road has come for all structures in the region that salute Iran or take orders from it.”

Aside from Trump’s and the Ambassador Tom Barrack’s Israel-centered plans regarding our region, which he appointed as a trustee to our country, do these allegations voiced through Mehmet Akif Ersoy not mean, first and foremost, that the Selam Tevhid file was not a “setup” at all?!