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Judiciary does not consider targeting of journalists a threat: 'Bullet' post had drawn backlash

Burak Kılıç, Deputy Chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları, had threatened journalists covering the trial of Sinan Ateş, who was assassinated in Ankara, through a post on his X account. The judiciary did not consider this post a threat.

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Burak Kılıç, Deputy Chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları, had threatened journalists covering the Sinan Ateş assassination trial in Ankara.

The prosecutor's office did not consider the "bullet" reference made against journalists Barış Terkoğlu, Timur Soykan, Erk Acarer, İsmail Saymaz, and Alican Uludağ to be a threat.

Alican Uludağ announced the prosecutor's decision in a post on his social media account X.

Here is that post:

"The prosecutor's office officially told a suspect in the Sinan Ateş murder; 'You can target journalists writing about the murder news and threaten them with a bullet. I will not interfere.'"

HOW SO?

Burak Kılıç, Deputy Chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları, who is a suspect in the Sinan Ateş murder and personally conducted reconnaissance in front of his house, had threatened and targeted 5 journalists, including myself, with a "bullet" message.

Following this, we filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutor's office on July 16 through my lawyers Tora Pekin and Abbas Yalçın. The petition also included a request for "protection allocation upon request." However, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued a decision of non-prosecution for the complaint at jet speed (in 13 days).

Moreover, the prosecutor's office is apparently so sure that Burak Kılıç did not threaten us that they did not even feel the need to take his statement. (Actually, it's not that they didn't issue a non-prosecution decision, they were forced to. It's more accurate to say they didn't call him in for a statement, they couldn't.) The reasoning for the decision mentions neither that the person complained about is a murder suspect nor the "bullet" in his post... It is as if this person made this post out of the blue, independently of this murder.

The judiciary has officially said, "Whoever reports on Sinan Ateş, murder suspects can comfortably target them. Enjoy yourselves." I suppose the prosecutor's office is waiting for that suspect to throw a bullet in front of the journalists for the crime of threat to be established.

Otherwise, this message from a murder suspect is not accepted as a threat. And has that judiciary been able to file a lawsuit against that murder suspect for 1 year and 8 months? It has not. Because if the judiciary becomes politicized and fears the identity of the suspect, such a murder file remains in limbo. And that murder suspect comfortably threatens journalists. And the judiciary cannot touch him. By the way, do not think that I am writing these because I am afraid. Today is Uğur Mumcu's birthday. It falls upon us to follow in his footsteps, without fear, with courage. But I am writing these so that everyone can see how a country's justice system backs a murder suspect...”