Attack on Prosecutor İşçimen in Kadıköy: His wife, Senem Demir İşçimen, recounts the incident

Senem Demir İşçimen, the wife and attorney of Supreme Court of Appeals Prosecutor Necip Cem İşçimen, who was attacked in a parking lot in Istanbul's Kadıköy district following the Fenerbahçe-Alanyaspor match, has made significant statements regarding the incident. Senem Demir İşçimen shared the details of the attack in an interview with Yeniçağ newspaper reporter Orhan Uğuroğlu.

While describing the events leading up to the attack, Senem Demir İşçimen stated that a suspect named Erol Gök punched Prosecutor İşçimen 11 times, specifically targeting his head. İşçimen emphasized that the assailant increased the intensity of the violence even though there were children in the prosecutor's vehicle.

Providing details regarding the attack and the events that preceded it, Senem Demir İşçimen stated the following:

Question: How did the fight start?

Atty. İşçimen: My client was subjected to this brutal attack while processing his exit at the toll booth after leaving the Fenerbahçe Marina İspark following the match.

A queue formed at the booth because the system was updating itself to generate the midnight Z-report.

The toll booth attendant repeatedly explained to the driver of the vehicle behind him, license plate 34 PE 5116, who was honking his horn, that the flow had stopped due to a system issue.

Question: Why did Prosecutor İşçimen get out of his car?

Atty. İşçimen: The driver, whom we learned is named Erol Gök, continued his insults with constant and persistent honking, flashing his headlights, and shouting heavy profanities through the open windows.

My client did not respond to his ongoing actions.

However, after they physically continued their actions by making contact with the rear bumper of his car, he was forced to get out of his vehicle.

Question: Is there video footage?

Atty. İşçimen: Yes. It is confirmed by the content of the camera recordings, which captured both video and audio.

Despite all these provocations, my client did not engage in any unlawful act; he remained calm and composed, as befits a legal professional.

To avoid a fight and to ask them to stop the persistent swearing, he walked toward the person sitting in the right rear passenger seat of the suspect's vehicle, whom we learned is named Tayfun Tahsin İlgün.

Pointing to the toll booth attendant with his hand, he said, “The attendant is trying to explain it to you, why don't you understand? Our stopping here has nothing to do with me. The system is locked anyway. That is why we are waiting.”

While trying to punch my client from the back window of the suspect vehicle, the individual continued his heavy profanities in front of the children. He tried to grab my client's hand, but my client did not allow it and began to walk away from the vehicle.

At that moment, the suspect named Erol Gök, who had stepped out of the driver's seat and approached my client from the left, began to strike my client violently.

He committed an effective act of violence by punching him 11 times, specifically targeting the head area.

These two individuals, exhibiting an example of urban thuggery, carried out this brutal attack in front of the eyes of the children in the car, one girl and the others boys.

Question: Is this when he identified himself as a prosecutor?

Atty. İşçimen: Even though he stated that he was ill and that he was a Public Prosecutor, the suspect continued his actions, swearing and making heavily insulting remarks such as, “F--- the Public Prosecutor. To hell with your Public Prosecutor status.”

Question: How did it end? Was a complaint filed?

Atty. İşçimen: My client, mindful of the children in the car who were crying loudly out of fear due to the gravity of the situation, acted with the composure of a legal professional and did not engage in any counter-action.

Despite the fact that his duties require him to be in dangerous, high-risk environments, and even though he had his licensed firearm in the vehicle, he simply waited for this brutal attack to end.

He filed a complaint against the individuals, and the legal process has begun. We will follow the matter as the victim of the incident throughout this process, which is continuing with their arrest.

Question: Why was there a high risk for the prosecutor?

Atty. İşçimen: My client served as the Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor responsible for the Constitutional Order at the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office following terrorist acts such as the Ankara Train Station bombing, the Merasim Street bombing, the Kızılay bombing, the assassination of Russian Ambassador Karlov, and the July 15 coup attempt.