New allegations regarding the report that led to Ümit Özdağ's arrest: Is that report fabricated?

It has been alleged that the Kayseri Police Department report, which led to the arrest of Victory Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ on January 21, 2024, on charges of "inciting the public to hatred and hostility," is fake. In a statement issued by the party, it was claimed that the Kayseri assessment report was fabricated and used in violation of the law.

The statement, released via Özdağ's social media account, asserted that the investigation initiated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office constituted an abuse of authority and was expanded unlawfully. The statement noted that the names of the Victory Party and Özdağ did not appear in the actual official records regarding the events in Kayseri, arguing that the Kayseri Police Department violated official document preparation regulations.

While it was stated that no Victory Party members were mentioned in the investigations conducted by the Kayseri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office regarding the events that took place in Kayseri between June 30 and July 2, 2024, it was also recalled that statements from the Ministry of Interior contained no findings related to party members.

It was emphasized with the following words that this report was used during the investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office following his speech at his party's Provincial Chairmen Consultation Meeting held in Antalya:

"Due to the unfair and unlawful investigation initiated ex officio by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on charges of ‘insulting the President’ and ‘inciting the public to hatred and hostility,’ Victory Party Chairman Prof. Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ was unfairly and unlawfully ARRESTED based on the Kayseri ASSESSMENT REPORT dated 21.01.2025, which is LEGALLY NULL AND VOID and clearly prepared upon instruction as presented in ANNEX-1, and has been deprived of his liberty since January 20, 2025."

In the statement, which expressed that the investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into Victory Party Chairman Prof. Dr. Ümit Özdağ's speech at the Provincial Chairmen Workshop in Antalya on charges of "insulting the President" was a clear abuse of authority and contrary to law, the reasons were listed point by point as follows:

"The fact that the investigation is being conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office TERROR CRIMES INVESTIGATION BUREAU is a separate JURISDICTIONAL ISSUE in terms of judicial district. It is clear that the incident under investigation is not a TERROR CRIME.

The ARREST and DETENTION MEASURE issued by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office—despite the absence of flight risk, evidence tampering, or strong suspicion of a crime—is a DISPROPORTIONATE and UNLAWFUL decision.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office initiated an investigation ex officio on charges of insulting the President, and subsequently expanded the investigation to include charges of inciting the public to hatred and hostility. However, if a new investigation is to be initiated on a different subject, a new investigation number must be assigned, and then a MERGER DECISION must be taken IF THERE IS A CONNECTION. Therefore, the investigation was expanded IN AN IMPROPER MANNER.

In the current investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, when there is a matter concerning the province of Kayseri, it is necessary to request the required information and documents regarding the INVESTIGATION via an instruction to be written to the Kayseri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

However, in the current investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, this rule was violated, and instead of the Kayseri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, a letter was sent directly to the Kayseri Provincial Police Department, requesting whether there was a SITUATION ASSESSMENT REPORT regarding the involvement of Victory Party members in the social events that occurred in the province of Kayseri on 01/07/2024, and if so, that the report be sent immediately.

While the Kayseri Provincial Police Department should have replied, ‘There is no Situation Assessment Report,’ a fabricated ASSESSMENT REPORT was hastily prepared on the same day (ANNEX-1).

The names of three former Victory Party members (Hacı Ali DEMIRKAYA, Baykal ALTAY, Murat KATFAR), who had no connection to the Kayseri events and had even been investigated for their own social media posts after the Kayseri events on July 13, 2024, and for whom a NON-PROSECUTION decision was issued, as well as another person (Oğuzhan KUMPINAR) who was not even a member at the time of the events and was baselessly claimed to be ‘sympathetic to the Victory Party,’ were also included in this report.

On the last page of the fabricated ASSESSMENT REPORT, a baseless assessment and accusation were made that is not only inconsistent with the law but also with reason and logic, stating: ‘It is assessed that 68% of the individuals processed regarding the events that occurred in our province between 30.06.2024-03.07.2024 are in the 10-25 age range, 38% (which adds up to 116%!) are 25 and older, and in the general assessment of these individuals, they were also influenced by the posts made by Victory Party members and sympathizers on their social platforms.’

The ‘Regulation on the Procedures and Principles to be Applied in Official Correspondence’ establishes rules on how official correspondence should be conducted, how the ‘official document’ within this correspondence should be prepared, and which mandatory elements the official document must contain.

When the fabricated ASSESSMENT REPORT presented in ANNEX-1 is examined within the scope of this regulation, it will be seen that it was prepared WITHOUT SIGNATURE and WITHOUT A REFERENCE NUMBER, contrary to the rules that must mandatorily be present in official correspondence procedures. According to correspondence procedures and customs, this FABRICATED REPORT, which should have been sent by the Kayseri Provincial Police Department—most likely because the illegality was recognized—was sent contrary to procedures and customs with a cover letter signed by the Deputy Head of the Kayseri Provincial Police Security Branch.

This fabricated ASSESSMENT REPORT presented in ANNEX-1 is LEGALLY NULL AND VOID.

The actual RECORD prepared by the police officers who were involved in the events on the date of the events (02.07.2024) regarding the Kayseri events and shared in the press is presented in ANNEX-2.

When this actual record is examined, it will be clearly seen that neither the Victory Party nor Prof. Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ is mentioned.

If the Kayseri Provincial Police Department absolutely wanted to send a letter regarding the ‘Situation Assessment Report’ requested by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it would have been expected to at least send the original report prepared in the form of this RECORD.

Although not reflected in the original Record, when the video recordings regarding the Kayseri events—which are currently in circulation—are examined, it is clearly seen that hundreds of different groups carrying out the social actions walked with the ‘grey wolf’ hand sign, chanting slogans of ‘YA ALLAH BISMILLAH ALLAHUEKBER,’ and that MHP Deputy Mr. Baki ERSOY—whose name is also mentioned in the original Record Report—made efforts in the field with the Governor of Kayseri to suppress the events. To date, no Victory Party member has walked with this slogan on any platform or at any rally.

In summary, it is clear that the personnel who contributed to the preparation of the unlawful, fabricated REPORT regarding the Kayseri events—even though it was not requested and contradicts the original Record report—acted in bad faith to influence the Prosecutor's Office, which was the addressee of the letter, and the investigation, caused the arrest of our Chairman, and therefore committed crimes.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office baselessly claimed that 11 X posts made by Prof. Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ regarding other subjects and provinces caused the Kayseri events, and the file was referred to the Duty Magistrate Judge of Criminal Peace with a request for ARREST based on the unlawful ASSESSMENT REPORT sent by the Kayseri Provincial Security Branch Directorate. Subsequently, an ARREST decision was issued unlawfully by the 2nd Magistrate Judge of Criminal Peace.

However, during both the prosecutor's and the Magistrate Judge of Criminal Peace's questioning, it was stated—based on the Minister of Interior's own press release—that Prof. Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ's 11 X posts were shared one to four years before the Kayseri events, that the authority to investigate the Kayseri events lies with the Kayseri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, that out of a total of 1065 people detained in the investigations conducted by the authorized Kayseri Public Prosecutors regarding the social events that took place between June 30 and July 2, 2024, 28 were arrested, judicial control decisions were issued for 187, a total of 189 account managers, including 6 abroad, who were evaluated as having made provocative and disinformation-containing posts were identified, 108 individuals were apprehended, 12 of whom were arrested, the proceedings of 6 individuals detained out of the 189 identified accounts are ongoing, judicial control decisions were issued for 38, and 52 were released, AND THAT THERE WERE NO VICTORY PARTY MEMBERS AMONG THESE PEOPLE UNDER INVESTIGATION, and while our claims were proven, an unfair and unlawful ARREST decision was issued against Prof. Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ.

The Kayseri Provincial Police Department, which possesses all kinds of statistical information presented above regarding the Kayseri events and transferred this data to the Ministry of Interior, avoided including this information in the fabricated ASSESSMENT REPORT dated January 21, 2025, for some reason, despite the fact that there were no Victory Party members among those arrested and detained due to the Kayseri events (if there were, they would have been included in the fabricated report).

It has been stated by our Kayseri organizations that members of other parties were active in the Kayseri events and that efforts were made in the field by the Governor himself with the deputies of the relevant parties to suppress these events.

OUR OBJECTIONS made to the Duty Criminal Court of First Instance WERE REJECTED, and it was decided that Prof. Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ'S DETENTION SHALL CONTINUE. The ‘Detention Review,’ which was reported to be conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on February 19, 2025, upon the completion of the one-month detention period, was moved forward and conducted on February 18, 2025; the defense attorneys were prevented from participating in the questioning conducted by the Magistrate Judge of Criminal Peace, and it was decided that the DETENTION OF OUR CHAIRMAN, whose statement was taken via SEGBIS, SHALL CONTINUE.

In addition to the unfair and unlawful ARREST decision, while there was an investigation file opened in 2021 by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Parliamentary Bureau regarding Prof. Dr. Ümit ÖZDAĞ's social media posts from his time as a deputy, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, with a letter written to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office—which was almost in the nature of an ORDER—demanded, contrary to PROCEDURE and LAW, that a decision of LACK OF JURISDICTION be issued to merge the file with its own investigation file. Unfortunately, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, despite there being no hierarchical link between them, issued a decision of LACK OF JURISDICTION regarding the investigation that should have been conducted under its own duty and authority, and sent the file to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office."

News Source: 12punto