12punto followed it minute by minute: The second day of the Sinan Ateş trial has concluded

The first session of the Sinan Ateş trial, which Turkey has been following with great interest, was completed yesterday.

The trial began today at 09:00 AM. The hearing will resume tomorrow at 9:00 AM.

Journalist and 12punto.com.tr columnist Müyesser Yıldız reported the developments in the trial minute by minute.

The second day of the Sinan Ateş trial has concluded. The trial will resume tomorrow.

The Presiding Judge began the hearing by announcing that proceedings had been initiated against the police officers.

The Presiding Judge stated that he had given instructions to the police to remove Ali Yücel, the lawyer for the Sinan Ateş family, from the courtroom for disrupting the order, but that the police had failed to carry out the order.

He noted that a report had been filed against the police officers who failed to perform their duties and that it had been added to the case file.

Sinan Ateş's wife, Ayşe Ateş, shared a post on her social media account regarding Serdar Öktem's testimony.

"We will shatter the gallows they have built, we will tear that noose apart with our teeth!"

We observe with concern that they are trying to change the course of the investigation with stories that occurred to the detainees 19 months later and with voices they heard from the beyond, and that in this way, a noose is being prepared to be placed around the necks of the police and the honorable members of the judiciary who ensured the deepening of the investigation, and that the gallows have already been set up.

Let them know that we will shatter the gallows they have built, we will tear that noose apart with our teeth!

We will bring this theater of conspiracy down on their heads, let them wait!

They are neither greater than the state, nor the nation, nor justice!

They will learn.

The Presiding Judge, calling for the Police Chief, requested that a report be filed against the police officers who did not follow his order. He said, "Who are you afraid of? Are you incapable of showing the power of the state?"

The hearing was adjourned following a question from Ali Yücel, the lawyer for the Sinan Ateş family, to one of the defendants, Serdar Öktem.

Following the ensuing argument, the Presiding Judge ordered the removal of Ali Yücel, the lawyer for the Sinan Ateş family and a close friend of Sinan Ateş.

Tension erupted in the courtroom.

Upon the reaction of the complainants, Ali Yücel remained in the courtroom. However, the presiding judge ordered the removal of two people on the complainant side who were reacting to him. The Presiding Judge reacted harshly to the police who made him repeat his order. He demanded their badge numbers.

In today's second session of the trial, held at the courtroom in the Sincan Prison complex by the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court, Doğukan Çep, who organized the assassination, looked at the section where journalists were located when he was brought into the courtroom, shaking his head and saying something.

When the hearing began, a defense lawyer criticized the politicians for sitting with the complainants, stating that this created pressure on the parties. The Presiding Judge replied to the lawyer as follows:

"Such an arrangement was made for the safety of the parties. Do not look for anything behind this. Who is on which side has no effect on us. It does not concern us who comes."

The first person to present his defense today was Murat Can Çolak, one of the police officers alleged to have brought the hitman Eray Özyağcı to Ankara.

Claiming that he went to Ankara at the request of his police colleague Aşkın Mert Gelenbey and that he did not know Eray Özyağcı, Çolak said, "I asked Aşkın Mert Gelenbey, 'Who is this, what is this about?' He said he was his friend and there was no problem. Since I was drinking in the car, I mostly slept."

The Presiding Judge and defense lawyers reacted to the question posed by complainant Ayşe Ateş's lawyer, Süleyman Bülbül, to Murat Can Çolak: "How can an honorable Turkish police officer transport someone with an arrest warrant?" Murat Can Çolak replied to this question, "I don't know the man's name, how would I know he had an arrest warrant?"

"WHERE DOES OLCAY KILAVUZ FIT INTO THIS?"

The second defendant to present his defense, Ufuk Köktürk, a prison friend of Doğukan Çep, summarized the following:

"Two or three days before the incident, Doğukan Çep called and asked for a loan. I didn't have any money on me, so I asked a friend. He sent it to the IBAN provided by Doğukan. One day before the incident, Doğukan called again and said, 'I'm in a difficult situation, forgive me, I'll pay you back on Monday.' I was in trouble. My friend Mehmet Ali was with me, I asked him. He checked his account, he had 4 thousand liras. I asked Doğukan for an IBAN, but Mehmet Ali couldn't send it. Thank God he couldn't, otherwise he would be here too. When he couldn't send it, he withdrew the money and gave it to me in cash. I had my wife send it via IBAN. The reason for my arrest is not sending this money. I am someone who served time for murder in 2013; how could I send it through my wife who was about to give birth? Besides, I have the opportunity to meet with Doğukan Çep face-to-face, I could have given it by hand. The Prosecutor even told me, 'Your only handicap is being friends with someone like this.' My crime is that I had a picture taken at the MHP Provincial Headquarters, I have a picture with 3 crescents. They asked, 'When did you have this taken? Where does Olcay Kılavuz fit into this? Did the MHP do it?' I do not forgive those who conducted this investigation. I think they will also get what they deserve from God. I am here just because of the photo I took at the MHP. I know Yavuz Selim Demirağ. He used to do very honest reporting. But even before I was arrested, he said I sent 100 thousand liras."

HE SAID HE WOULD GO WITH POLICE 3 DAYS BEFORE THE MURDER

Mustafa Uzunlar, the owner of the parking lot where the car that Eray Özyağcı and two police officers came to Ankara in was rented, also made the following remarkable statements:

"On December 27, Doğukan Çep came and asked for a vehicle to go to and from Ankara. I didn't want to give it because I had never seen him drive and he didn't have a driver's license. He said, 'We are going to a wedding congratulation with police friends.' I accepted because he was going with police officers. The daily rate of the vehicle was 2 thousand liras, he paid in cash. I gave a discount and returned 500 liras. On the day they were going to leave, I asked, 'Why didn't you go?' He said, 'The friends will go and come back.' Ultimately, I thought, 'I'm giving it to the police, what could happen?' I am complaining about Doğukan Çep because he deceived me."

After the defense of one of the defendants, Osman Bayraktar, the hearing was adjourned for half an hour. As Doğukan Çep was being taken out of the courtroom, he blew kisses to the journalists this time.

After the break, Mehmet Yüce, who sold the motorcycle used by Vedat Balkaya, who helped the hitman Eray Özyağcı escape, presented his defense. He explained that after he posted an ad on social media, Vedat Balkaya came and liked one of the motorcycles, but said he could deliver it a few days later because it had some missing parts. Stating that they agreed on 80 thousand liras with 50 thousand liras in advance with Vedat Balkaya, Yüce said, "That's all. Afterwards, I was arrested. I don't know Doğukan Çep or Eray Özyağcı."

One of the defendants, former MİT employee Çağlar Zorlu, after stating that he did not forgive the investigating prosecutors Durdu Özer and Durmuş Ali Kaya, claimed that the addresses he gave to Tolgahan Demirbaş, whom he met at Aytaç Ataç's cafe, as the address of Sinan Ateş were fabricated, and that he had no connection with the defendants other than these fabricated address correspondences. Zorlu also made the following claims:

"I was at MİT until July 2015. Then I voluntarily transferred to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, where I still am. I was brought into this file to add color. It's a template created by Durdu Özer and Durmuş Ali Kaya, saying, 'There is a MİT agent here. We can reach Hakan Fidan from here, and someone else from there.' I said, 'I am not a MİT agent. Ask MİT.' He replied, 'Don't bother. Why would I bother with MİT?' My fate was sealed; even if I did the impossible, I was going to end up here."

A complainant lawyer asked Çağlar Zorlu why he lied to Tolgahan Demirbaş. Zorlu replied, "You cannot decide whether I lied or not." When the lawyer reminded him that he himself said the addresses were fabricated and asked, "Was it to show off?" Çağlar Zorlu said, "What would I show off about? You are the one showing off."

The courtroom became chaotic during the defense of one of the defendants, Lawyer Serdar Öktem. When the defense lawyers reacted to the questions of Şeyda Şahin, one of the complainant lawyers, an argument broke out. Upon this, the Presiding Judge reacted as follows:

"Do not argue, or I will throw you out. I am saying this for both sides. Remove the lawyer (referring to Ayşe Ateş's lawyer Ali Yücel). Law enforcement officers, remove him. (When the officers did not intervene and other lawyers protested by hitting the tables) If you are not going to intervene again, sit down. If you are continuing, get out. Look, that side is silent. If you cannot control your mouth, get out. The lawyer with glasses and a mustache; law enforcement, do your duty. Who are the law enforcement officers who are not removing him?"

The Presiding Judge, becoming even more enraged when Remzi Çayır, Chairman of the National Path Party (Milli Yol Partisi), who was sitting in the complainant section, joined the arguments, continued as follows:

"You get out too. Police, what are you doing? I want those police officers too, whoever they are. Let the law enforcement commanders come here. I want their badge numbers. They made me shout at the top of my lungs here. I don't have to shout ten times, Mr. Chief. Why are you hesitant, why are you afraid? I gave the order. Are you so incapable of showing the power of the state and enforcing the law?.. I will conduct this trial, carry it out, and take the defenses. There is no need for a show to prove something to your clients. Since I have also practiced law, I know well what is going through your minds."

After what happened, the hearing was adjourned for a lunch break.

I AM AN MHP MEMBER AND I AM PROUD OF IT

In his defense before the events, defendant Lawyer Serdar Öktem accused prosecutors Durdu Özer and Durmuş Ali Kaya and claimed that they did this to attribute it to a community.

Noting that the Prosecutor's first question was, "Are you an MHP member?", Öktem recorded that he said, "Yes, I am an MHP member. I am honored and proud. Why are you asking?"

Claiming that a perception operation was being conducted against him by separatists, traitors, and FETÖ members, Öktem also made the following explanation regarding not giving the password to his phone:

"I didn't remember because I had COVID, but even though I said, 'I wrote it down somewhere, I might find it,' they didn't record it."

Upon this, the Presiding Judge asked if he remembered the password now. While Öktem said, "No," he also pointed to Article 36 of the Attorneyship Law.

Continuing his defense, Öktem once again accused prosecutors Durdu Özer and Durmuş Ali Kaya, saying, "They did not act as prosecutors, they acted as advocates. They have been persecuting me for 18 months to blame the incident on the community I belong to."

When asked by a defense lawyer, "Do you have any connection with the Ülkü Ocakları?", Öktem replied, "I am proud to be an Idealist (Ülkücü). I am proud to be a member of that community," while answering the question about whether he knew Sinan Ateş, "I have no communication, no acquaintance, no handshake. I wouldn't even be aware of his existence if he hadn't been the President of the Ülkü Ocakları."

After these statements, Şeyda Şahin, the lawyer for the Ateş Family, pointed to Öktem's failure to remember his phone password and asked, "Would you have given it if you had remembered?" Öktem spoke once again of the Attorneyship Law. Upon this, the Presiding Judge explained, "He says, 'I wouldn't have given it by law.' He doesn't want to give it or he really doesn't remember. The discretion of this belongs to us."

At the beginning of the afternoon session of the hearing, the Presiding Judge said that the report prepared against the police officers who did not remove the lawyers, including himself, had been delivered to the court by the Ankara Deputy Provincial Police Chief M.D.

One of the defendants, Caner Güney, explained that he was a taxi driver, that he took Suat Kurt to Şile on the night of the incident, and that even though he told the police who came and picked him up the next night where he dropped off Kurt, he was beaten until morning, saying, "The police couldn't find the address in Şile and the other addresses, I took them."

THE CAR BELONGS TO THE MHP

Emre Yüksel, an Ülkü Ocakları executive who went to Istanbul with Tolgahan Demirbaş on the evening of the murder, said the following about the vehicle they used upon the question of the defense lawyers:

"The vehicle with license plate 06 AT 5021 belongs to the MHP. The vehicle is allocated to the Ülkü Ocakları. Since I am also on duty at the Ülkü Ocakları, I can use it."

While defense lawyers opposed this question on the grounds that "institutions related to the case were wanted to be included in the subject," the Presiding Judge did not allow the question of Ali Yücel, the lawyer for the Ateş Family, regarding some other cars, on the grounds that "it was about other people not within the scope of the file."

Upon the question of Lawyer Süleyman Kavak, "Did you go with the Ülkü Ocakları's vehicle instead of your own car to use it for free?", Emre Yüksel spoke as follows:

"We have nothing to do with free. For comfort on long journeys. Besides, a vehicle allocated to the Ülkü Ocakları is as lawful as mother's milk for all members of the Ocak."

09.00 The hearing began on its second day.

'BOLU' OBSTACLE IN COURT

In addition, new information has emerged regarding the Sinan Ateş murder.

According to Alican Uludağ from DW Turkish; camera footage emerged showing the vehicle stated to be used by Serdar Öktem, a detained suspect in the file, traveling one after another in traffic in Bolu, where the hitman was temporarily left, with a vehicle belonging to the father of an MHP deputy.

It was determined that Tolgahan Demirbaş also went to the region where hitman Eray Özyağcı was taken in Ankara 3 days before the murder on the same day.

Ali Yücel, the lawyer for Ayşe Ateş, wanted to ask a question to Emre Yüksel, Deputy Chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları, stating that they had determined that two separate vehicles were caught on the License Plate Recognition System (PTS) while they were coming to Bolu with Tolgahan Demirbaş, and that one of these vehicles was in the use of İsmail Akgül.

However, the presiding judge did not allow him to ask the question, stating that this person had no connection with the trial.

Ersin Eroğlu from 12punto drew attention to the "Bolu" question in court. Eroğlu, using the expressions "Ali Yücel, the lawyer for the Ateş family, wanted to ask a question to Emre Yüksel, Deputy Chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları, stating that they had determined that two separate vehicles were caught on the PTS in Bolu, and that one of these vehicles was in the use of İsmail Akgül", reported the following:

"The presiding judge did not allow him to ask the question, stating that the question was not within the scope of the case.

Ali Yücel said that the report that entered the case file was within the scope of the case and that they were prevented from asking questions.

When the Bolu issue and those whose paths crossed in Bolu come to the agenda, there is an intervention..."

AYŞE ATEŞ: 'COLLAPSING DEFENSES'

Drawing attention to the contradictory statements of the defendants in yesterday's hearing, Sinan Ateş's wife Ayşe Ateş shared the following in a post she made on social media:

DEFENSES THAT SILENTLY COLLAPSED IN YESTERDAY'S HEARING

THE COLLAPSE OF THE "WE WERE GOING TO HANG A BANNER" DEFENSE

Tolgahan Demirbaş: We were going to hang a banner regarding the incident in Mersin. That's why I might have requested the location information of Sinan Ateş's house.

Our lawyers: The attack on Çağrı Ünel in Mersin took place on March 15, but the date you requested this information is March 10. What would you like to say about this?

Tolgahan Demirbaş: Silence.

Lawyer Ali Yücel: Well, why did you search for my car's license plate in the system? Were you going to hang a banner in front of my house too?

Tolgahan Demirbaş: Silence.

Our lawyers: Why did you search for Ayşe Ateş's identity information?

Tolgahan Demirbaş: Silence

THE COLLAPSE OF PERSONAL HOSTILITY

Doğukan Çep: I gave 650 thousand TL to Sinan Ateş to solve my file at the Court of Cassation, but he didn't solve it. He didn't give my money back either. That's why I decided to shoot him in the feet.

Our lawyers: How was Sinan Ateş going to help you with your file that had already been upheld by the Court of Cassation during the period you mentioned?

Doğukan Çep: Silence...

May God not make anyone so helpless as to go from door to door, channel to channel, and make a defense with statements memorized 19 months later to hired killers."

WHO ATTENDED THE TRIAL?

The detained defendants and their lawyers, as well as the complainant of the case, Selman Bozkurt, and Sinan Ateş's wife, Ayşe Ateş, attended yesterday's hearing.

In addition to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel and former CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Homeland Party (Memleket Partisi) Chairman Muharrem İnce, Victory Party (Zafer Partisi) Chairman Ümit Özdağ, IYI Party Chairman Musavat Dervişoğlu, and Sinan Oğan were present in the courtroom.

MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli had announced that only lawyers from his party would attend the hearing. However, the Court Panel rejected the MHP's request on the grounds that "they were not harmed by the crime."

HISTORY OF THE CASE

The Ankara 22nd High Criminal Court filed a lawsuit against only 22 detained defendants on April 26 and accepted the indictment on May 7.

Among the 22 detained defendants to be tried are former Ülkü Ocakları executives Tolgahan Demirbaş, Emre Yüksel, and Serdar Öktem.

In the indictment, aggravated life imprisonment is requested for hitman Eray Özyağcı and Vedat Balkaya and Suat Kurt, who brought him to the scene and helped him escape, for the crime of "premeditated murder."

Aggravated life imprisonment is requested for Doğukan Çep, who is alleged to have "organized the armed action," and the suspect former Ülkü Ocakları executive Tolgahan Demirbaş for the crime of "premeditated murder in participation, collectively against the victim as an instigator of the crime."

Imprisonment is requested for the defendants Zekeriya Asarlaya, Hakan Saraç, Ufuk Köktürk, Mehmet Yüce, Mustafa Uzunlar, Askın Mert Gelenbey, Murat Can Çolak, Osman Bayraktar, Caner Güney, Umut Ersoy, Çaglar Zorlu, Aytaç Ataç, Emre Yüksel, Serdar Öktem, Erdem Karadeniz, Alper Atay, Mustafa Ensar Aykal for the crime of "premeditated murder in participation, collectively against the victim as a perpetrator who assisted in the crime committed in participation."

News Source: 12punto