Bora Kaplan trial: Who are we to make a state elder like Mr. Devlet Bahçeli say such a thing?

Continuing his defense, which he began on Tuesday in the 76-defendant trial held at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court in the Sincan Prison Campus, Bora Kaplan reiterated his claim that the "found" phone, allegedly belonging to secret witness M7 Serdar Sertçelik, was fabricated by the police officers who conducted the operation against them to ensure their own acquittal, and gave the following example:

"Cengiz Haliç sent my statement to Serdar Sertçelik for Cevheri Güven and Erk Acarer to publish. Look at the photo related to this statement and the photo dated September 13, 2023, that came out of former KOM Branch Manager Şevket Demircan's phone; they are identical down to the background. Let's say Cengiz Haliç really sent it to Serdar Sertçelik. Then how did it come out of Şevket Demircan's phone? Did Cengiz Haliç send it to him too? Or did Şevket Demircan send it to Cengiz Haliç? It is obvious that the purpose of creating the fake phone was to save the police. Indeed, they were acquitted before the outcome of this case was even awaited."

"Did Sertçelik Have Iran Bombed?"

While Kaplan argued that the messages on the found phone were staged to coincide with developments before or after the case, he asked, "If Serdar Sertçelik wrote, 'I hope my Trump bombs Iran,' and Trump bombed Iran a day or two later, are we going to say 'Serdar had it done'?" The presiding judge warned him, "Do not get into international affairs."

When Kaplan gave the example, "If Serdar Sertçelik made some comments about what would happen in the Galatasaray-Manchester City match and they happened, would it be said again that 'Serdar had it done'?" the judge stated that they would evaluate these along with the verdict.

"They Had Me Speak on the Phone While in Custody"

Bora Kaplan explained the following regarding lawyer Cengiz Haliç:

"It turned out that while I was in custody, former Ankara Deputy Police Chief Murat Çelik met with lawyer Cengiz Haliç twice. Cengiz Haliç is afraid, he is panicking. Well, who directed Cengiz Haliç to them; I wish you had asked Murat Çelik. It was the first or second day I was taken into custody; they said, 'Cengiz Haliç is with an elder of ours, he will speak with you on the phone.' It turns out he was with Murat Çelik. Cengiz Haliç told me, 'Help them, and they will help you.' I replied, 'What am I going to help with?' Let them check Cengiz Haliç's cell tower logs; did he come to the Police Department while I was in custody or not? I think they scared him, and he gathered false information. He might have done it to save himself. Murat Çelik had their second conversation recorded. Why didn't they record the first one? Because there were threats and suggestions. Besides, the recording of the second conversation was also clipped. So that Murat Çelik's threats and suggestions wouldn't be heard. They brought in the entry-exit records of Cengiz Haliç visiting me in prison as part of the investigation. But according to these records, while Cengiz Haliç was in prison, according to the found phone, he was also talking on WhatsApp. Doing these things is detailed, laborious work; they missed it. God has tangled their feet."

Kaplan, while stating that one of the non-detained defendants in the case, Nurullah Özgür Kopuk, who provided the connection between the police and Serdar Sertçelik, is a fraudster who buys and sells vehicles with Murat Çelik's son, made the following allegations:

"He was close with Alp Aslan even before this team. He is afraid because he ate people's money. Before one of the defendants in this case, Yahya Ersoy, was taken into custody, he introduced himself as a commissioner from the Organized Crime Bureau and told him to go to Murat Çelik to testify against me, otherwise he would be taken into custody. Similarly, he tells Alper Tansu, one of the defendants in the money laundering case, 'testify, or they will take you into custody.' When he didn't go, he was indeed taken into custody. I saw Nurullah Özgür Kopuk here the other day, he has protection; he made such a hand gesture to him, you unqualified swindler, who are you to make this gesture to the state's police? They turned the Police Department into a private security company. They assigned protection to whoever wanted it. They gave protection to Murat Çelik's son and to a journalist who writes in their favor, whose name I don't want to mention now."

The presiding judge intervened in these words of Kaplan, saying, "Skip the protection issue, make your defense."

"Who Are We to Our State Elder"

Noting that Sertçelik said regarding the emails on the found phone, which are alleged to belong to him, "These were written to have me killed," Kaplan said that one of the people mentioned in the email could indeed do this.

Regarding the messages claiming that they were the ones who had MHP Leader Devlet Bahçeli make his group speech in which he described the police as "coup plotters," Kaplan said, "Who are we to make a state elder like Mr. Devlet Bahçeli say such a thing?"

When Bora Kaplan criticized the indictment, which he called "null and void," and prosecutor Mustafa Kaya, the presiding judge intervened. Upon this, Kaplan replied, "I mean, Mr. President, you are saying, 'Okay, we understood the prosecutor is biased, that's enough,' but this bias doesn't end."

Kaplan concluded his defense regarding the found phone as follows:

"Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya tampered with the statements of not only me and Serdar Sertçelik, but also every witness and complainant; he made them say what he wanted and wrote what he wanted. A setup was built against us. I only beg you to do what justice and the law require. Release me from this file, I won't be able to get out anyway. I only want this release so that my belief in justice can be restored. Put an end to their oppression."

Following Kaplan's defense, the presiding judge asked whether he had established contact with Cengiz Haliç through his lawyer Tarık Teoman or someone else while in prison. Kaplan replied, "No."

Upon the judge's questions, he stated that he recognized one of the defendants, former police officer Önder Polat, by sight from past police practices, and that he definitely did not tell him to flee. Regarding Serdar Sertçelik, Kaplan said, "He is my friend, I was the witness at his wedding, but we never had a partnership. Our relationship soured when he went bankrupt and didn't pay his debt to me."

"I Don't Want to Be Trending"

The prosecutor asked why he was chosen as a stepping stone, based on his claim that "they used me as a stepping stone while targeting bureaucrats," which is the basis of his defense.

Kaplan explained the following:

"I went to TRT on July 15. The Minister also went. At that time, FETÖ members wrote a lot about me. They used photos of me on one side and the minister and the President on the other. However, I had no relationship with Süleyman Soylu other than seeing him twice. There is a lot I want to say, but I don't want to be trending tomorrow. When did Serdar Sertçelik see the minister, could he have had contact with MHP members, but I am a nationalist. I have acquaintances, they could have added someone through me. If they were well-intentioned, they wouldn't have asked me about the weapons. Because the opposition could have easily trampled on this. I know which chair former police chief Murat Çelik, who claims to fight FETÖ, was hiding behind that day."

When Kaplan explained that he was subjected to a lot of pressure during Süleyman Soylu's term, the prosecutor asked if he had filed an official complaint about that team. When Kaplan replied, "I am a business owner, how was I going to complain?" the prosecutor reminded him, "But you currently have many complaints to the HSK (Council of Judges and Prosecutors)." Kaplan said the following:

"I am in prison, what can they do to me now? They ruined my life, they confiscated my property, my wife got cancer. I couldn't even open my eyes to complain about the team from the Süleyman Soylu era... They left, I had my son's circumcision, then I was arrested. There was no opportunity left."

"What More Do You Want?"

After Bora Kaplan's cross-examination was completed, lawyer Duran Göçer, representing one of the defendants, Önder Polat, directed the following questions to the court:

"We saw in the report from the Gendarmerie that you had the two phones I created examined, but that no physical examination was done on the found phone, and only its contents were sent via a flash drive. Where is this phone; is it in the safe, or in the judicial repository; we want information to be given. And will this phone be sent for physical examination?"

Lawyer Göçer also requested that the record regarding the found phone be added to the file if it is in the judicial repository.

While the presiding judge said, "We will give it, we will put it in. It is at our discretion to send it for physical examination," he reminded the lawyers that they could keep a record regarding this, stating that lawyer Göçer's statement was recorded in the SEGBİS (Audio and Video Information System) record, but that his own explanations were not recorded because the SEGBİS was closed.

It was heard that the judge said to lawyer Duran Göçer in the meantime, "The phone you created with manipulation turned out to be original. What more do you want?"

The hearing will continue on Monday.

Müyesser YILDIZ

June 5, 2026