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Meriç Demir Kahraman poses important 'Gezi' questions to Minister Tunç

Meriç Demir Kahraman, wife of Gezi Case prisoner Tayfun Kahraman, has responded with pointed questions to statements made by Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç regarding the 'Gezi Park' protests during a program he attended.

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Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç, in a live broadcast he attended, evaluated the arrest of manager Ayşe Barım on charges of "attempting to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey or to prevent it from performing its duties" on the grounds that she was one of the planners of the Gezi Park protests 12 years ago.

Tunç stated, "There is a finalized decision. There is a decision regarding the Gezi Park events being an attempted coup against the government. What happened 12 years later that an investigation was launched again? The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is involved here; there is no statute of limitations. The statute of limitations does not apply to crimes committed against the constitutional order. Just as the defendants of February 28 and the coup plotters of September 12 were brought to justice years later. Regarding the crime, it is Article 312. There is no statute of limitations. 12 years have passed. Of course, if evidence has emerged within this period. We will see in the coming times what evidence emerged within the scope of the investigation that such an investigation was launched," he said.

Meriç Demir Kahraman, wife of Gezi Case prisoner Tayfun Kahraman, reacted to these statements by Yılmaz Tunç.

"CONTRARY TO CONSCIENCE AND JUSTICE"

In a post shared on her social media account, Kahraman, who posed questions to Minister Tunç, included the following statements:

"Based on your statements, to Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç; your statements dated February 7, 2025, regarding the Gezi Case do not reflect the truth. They are contrary to conscience and justice.

I will speak specifically about my husband and colleague, Dr. Tayfun Kahraman.

I cannot associate with a legal professional your effort to label Gezi as an uprising and brush it off by saying, 'The sentences of those who organized it were given, and the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld them.' Let me remind you:

1- In this case, which was opened 6 years after Gezi, a 'unanimous' acquittal decision was given in 2020 at the 30th High Criminal Court on the grounds that there was 'no act constituting a crime and no concrete evidence regarding them.'

2- The judges who gave the acquittal decision were reassigned, and the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) initiated proceedings against them.

3- The 3rd Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice overturned the acquittal decision, saying, 'If there is no evidence in this file regarding the crime of attempting to overthrow the government by force and violence, perhaps it is in the Çarşı Case,' and started a retrial by merging the two cases. Thus, the Gezi Case was also moved to the 13th High Criminal Court.

4- The Gezi Case was separated again after 5 hearings from the Çarşı Case, with which it had been merged to include elements of violence and force, and on April 25, 2022, the heaviest sentences were handed down by 'majority vote' without a single line of new information/document being added to this file, and without a single line of legal justification/concrete evidence being presented.

5- In September 2023, the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the Gezi Case for some defendants 'without presenting any justification or evidence,' and upheld it for others.

6- The judges of the 13th High Criminal Court, who handed down the heaviest sentences by majority vote, without justification or evidence, to the Gezi Case defendants who had no connection to violence and force, gave a unanimous acquittal decision in the Çarşı Case, which was the reason for the overturning of the previous acquittal decision.

'Minister of Justice' Yılmaz Tunç;

1- Have you read the Unanimous Acquittal Decision given by the 30th High Criminal Court in February 2020?

2- Have you read the Acquittal Overturning Decision of the 3rd Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice in January 2021?

3- Have you read the arrest decision given by the 13th High Criminal Court by majority vote in April 2022?

4- Have you read the decision of the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals in September 2023, which upheld the sentences for 5 of the Gezi Case defendants and overturned them for 3?

5- Have you read the acquittal decision given by the 13th High Criminal Court in the Çarşı Case in December 2024?

I have read them all. I have lived through all the processes. I have lived day by day with my daughter Vera the darkening of our lives through decisions where judges who decided with their conscience were reassigned, which continued until the desired decisions were obtained, where evidence in our favor was not heard, evidence against us was not presented, and our concrete crime was not explained.

Despite all this, can you claim that this trial process was truly fair and equitable? If so, why is the Constitutional Court (AYM) holding our application? Do you have an answer to these questions of mine?"