Following 'gang' comment from Yeni Şafak, new report on 'Court of Cassation members': Investigate their assets

Yeni Şafak, which published two reports targeting Abdullah Yaman, President of the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, received a "gang" response. The construction boss at the center of the dispute has requested an investigation into the assets of the Court of Cassation members.

The latest target of Yeni Şafak, known for its proximity to the government, has become the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation.

The newspaper, which made a series of allegations against the chamber's president, Abdullah Yaman, received an unusually long response from Yaman.

While Yeni Şafak accused the Court of Cassation judge of "FETÖ traces in the Court of Cassation," the Court of Cassation president called Yeni Şafak a "gang."

In the third act of the feud, construction boss Kamil Darbaz targeted the chamber's president, Abdullah Yaman.

HOW DID THE DISPUTE START?

The first report appeared on October 23 with the headline, "Altınbaş corruption in the million-dollar project: They are acting like FETÖ representatives."

In the report, which also featured a photograph of Judge Yaman, the partnership dispute file of Kamil Darbaz, a partner in the construction company GMO Grup Yapı, which began in 2007, was discussed.

While it was stated that the Altınbaş Group and the executives of this holding were at the center of the case, Darbaz complained that the file had not yet been concluded despite a "violation of property rights" ruling from the Constitutional Court. The report included Darbaz's claim that the Altınbaş Group was manipulating the judiciary, and contained the accusation that "President of the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation Abdullah Yaman and some members were acting in favor of the defendant party."

The second report was published on October 24 with the headline, "FETÖ shadow in the Court of Cassation: File manipulation and single-number game by Chamber President Yaman." In this report, Yaman was also accused of unethical conduct and having FETÖ connections.

The report included the following statements:

"It is stated that Yaman manipulated the system to assign the case involving 330 apartments to his own panel and changed the file order. Yaman's 'extra-legal' moves have reignited debates about 'designing justice through FETÖ' in the high judiciary."

"YENİ ŞAFAK GANG"

Following both reports, Yaman published a long statement on his own social media account today. The title of this statement was "Yeni Şafak Gang."

In his response on his Facebook account, President of the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation Abdullah Yaman denied all the allegations against him. He accused Yeni Şafak of conducting an "assassination of reputation through slander." He stated that the reason he was facing these allegations, which he described as a smear campaign, was because he "did not allow their unfair demands."

Yaman called on state institutions to take action and requested that his HTS (historical traffic search) records, bank transactions, and camera footage be examined. Stating, "If even a shred of the report is true, I am ready to resign," Yaman emphasized that otherwise, this campaign constitutes an attack on the reputation of the state.

'When the assets of some Court of Cassation members and presidents are investigated, everything will come to light'

The response to Yaman came from Kamil Darbaz, a partner of GMO Grup Yapı.

Darbaz, the central figure in the case at the heart of the dispute, said, "When the assets of some Court of Cassation members and presidents are investigated, everything will come to light."

Directing questions at Yaman, Darbaz said, "I want to ask a very clear question so that the question marks in the minds of the entire public can be cleared: Were your two children dismissed from public service due to FETÖ connections? Was your house searched by police at that time? Did you target the then-Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and share posts on social media? Does one of your children still live abroad?"

Highlights from Darbaz's social media post are as follows:

"There is not a single legal justification or precedent in the message you published. Despite the established precedent of the 11th Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, which you preside over, stating that 'A single asset of a limited company cannot be sold without a general assembly decision,' and with a Constitutional Court ruling on this matter already in place, we see that you are struggling to make a decision to the contrary. What is the legal justification for this contradiction? Can you explain?"

"Throughout the entire text, you talk about God, the Quran, what is lawful, and what is forbidden. Are you a clergyman or a judge? Or are you hiding behind religious concepts because you have no legal words left to say?"

"When the assets of some Court of Cassation members and presidents are investigated, if appraisals of the real estate they own are made, and if their stock market shares are valued, everything will come to light. The clean ones and the dirty ones will be clearly understood."