“If I Give Names, Everyone Will Die”

Müyesser YILDIZ - 12punto.com.tr

The trial regarding the assassination of academic and author Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necip Hablemitoğlu continues.

Testifying as a witness in the case, author Ergün Poyraz alleged that former AKP MP Ramazan Toprak had made lies and slanders to disparage Necip Hablemitoğlu and kill him once again, and that the prosecutor had acted in concert with Toprak by including these claims verbatim in the indictment. Poyraz stated, “I think they were going to play another game with this indictment, but they were left halfway. When you look at the indictment, it becomes clear that it was written to please the Fethullah Gülen organization; it stands out.”

In the 14th session of the trial held at the Ankara 28th High Criminal Court, 5 defendants who are not in custody were present in the courtroom, excluding the fugitive defendant Nuri Gökhan Bozkır, while Enver Altaylı, who is detained for another crime, was present via SEGBİS connection from Sincan Prison.

It was observed that Prosecutor Zafer Ergün, who prepared the indictment, was again sitting at the prosecution desk during the hearing, which was also attended by the late Necip Hablemitoğlu’s wife, Şengül Hablemitoğlu.

After the Presiding Judge read the documents received in the file, the hearing of witnesses began. The first witness, Prof. Dr. Ali Naki Selmanpakoğlu, who had difficulty speaking due to a lung condition, explained that he and Hablemitoğlu mostly talked about Fethullah Gülen’s activities and that Hablemitoğlu had said, “This country has no owner.”

Hablemitoğlu family lawyer Ersan Barkın reminded that the reason they requested Selmanpakoğlu to be heard was the subject of Hablemitoğlu’s potential appointment as Undersecretary of the MİT, and asked when they had discussed this. Selmanpakoğlu replied that they had discussed it 2-3 years before Hablemitoğlu’s death.

Upon this answer from Selmanpakoğlu, Prosecutor Zafer Ergün asked, “Are you as sure about the date as you are about your name?”

Selmanpakoğlu reiterated that he remembered it as 2-3 years before the murder.

“I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM, BUT IF I SPEAK, EVERYONE WILL DIE”

After Selmanpakoğlu, author Ergün Poyraz was heard as a witness. Stating that he considered the late Hablemitoğlu like an older brother, Poyraz began his remarks with the following accusations against former AKP MP Ramazan Toprak and Prosecutor Zafer Ergün:

“The person named Ramazan Toprak made heavy and false slanders to disparage Necip Hablemitoğlu and kill him once again. These were included verbatim in the indictment. Necip Hablemitoğlu had no involvement in the non-publication of my book ‘Patlak Ampul’. On the contrary; he worked for its publication and wrote the foreword. The book was published before the 2002 elections. I think they were going to play another game with this indictment, but they were left halfway.”

In the continuation of his statement, Ergün Poyraz accused the then-TEM Branch Manager Osman Kaya, General Director of Security Emin Arslan, and Chief Civil Inspector Refik Ali Uçarcı, alleging that the indictment was written to please the Fethullah Gülen organization and that this was obvious.

Upon the Presiding Judge’s questions, Poyraz stated that he did not obtain the information and documents he possessed from the military, saying, “The military has no intelligence or information; what information would they give me? This is the claim of these FETÖ members.”

Hablemitoğlu family lawyer Ersan Barkın asked Poyraz whether he could provide the names of those who ordered Hablemitoğlu’s murder and the hitman, which he claimed to know while being tried in the Ergenekon conspiracy case, noting that the judges and prosecutors now being tried for FETÖ membership did not ask these questions, and asked if he could provide these names before this court, which is now fighting against FETÖ.

Poyraz said, “I will give them, but the court cannot survive.” The following dialogue then took place:

Presiding Judge: If you know, give the names.
Poyraz: I know, there is no evidence. I have findings as a result of my research. There is a sauna 75 meters above the murder scene, which AKP members frequent. If that place is investigated, it will come out.
Presiding Judge: You said, “I will tell until the trigger is pulled.”
Poyraz: I have 2 children and a wife. Who will protect them? My trouble still doesn’t end.
Presiding Judge: There is a conscientious responsibility to say it here…
Poyraz: There is also a life issue.
Lawyer Ersan Barkın: You have no security problem now. This panel is not FETÖ-affiliated.
Poyraz: If I share it with this panel, everyone will die. I cannot return to Aydın from here.
Presiding Judge: So you will not give names.
Lawyer Eren Turan: Can you at least say who it is not?
Presiding Judge: Yes, are they the defendants present? Are these the defendants who pulled the trigger or helped?
Poyraz: I don’t know if any of them have the slightest involvement.

Member Judge: Didn’t you think about becoming a secret witness?
Poyraz: I am against the institution of secret witness. I haven’t been one until this date, and I won’t be one after this.

Lawyer Ersan Barkın: Is this name still active? Is it someone active—military, police, soldier—that you should be afraid of?
Poyraz: This organization is different. The two people Şengül Hablemitoğlu saw that morning, who were said to be specialist sergeants, should be investigated.
Levent Göktaş: Let a protection order be issued for you.
Poyraz: If the police wanted, they would bring the perpetrators here in 24 hours. As long as they don’t want to, whatever I tell is in vain.
Presiding Judge: It can be in another session, if you want to provide information, we will do our best.
Poyraz: Let that person who was said to be a specialist sergeant be asked whether he was a specialist sergeant.
Fikret Emek: I have known Ergün Poyraz as a brave, fearless person. Our lives are at stake here. It is said that we are murderers based on slanders. My request from him is to get a protection order. If not, I will go and protect him. Let him tell what he knows in a closed session.
Presiding Judge: The state will protect.

“THE PROSECUTOR THREATENED ME”

In the continuation of his statement, Ergün Poyraz alleged that Prosecutor Zafer Ergün threatened him while taking his statement regarding the then-detained defendant Aydın Köstem, to which the Prosecutor replied that he had only reminded him about the law on perjury. However, Poyraz replied, “No, without mentioning perjury, you said, ‘If there is a discrepancy in your statement with Aydın Köstem’s, we will talk.’” Upon this, Prosecutor Ergün reacted by saying, “What are we going to talk about with you?” Poyraz’s answer was, “I am wondering about that too.”

One of the defense lawyers, Büşra Uğurlu, referring to Poyraz’s words, “This is a huge organization,” asked whether this was FETÖ and on what basis he made this determination. Poyraz said:

“Yes, it is FETÖ. FETÖ is behind all the evil in Turkey. They are in every corner—in the police, in the judiciary, in the military. The CHP is also full of the Fethullah organization. They are definitely everywhere right now.”

In the afternoon part of the hearing, retired Special Forces Command (ÖKK) non-commissioned officer Fikret Özdemir, who was heard as a witness, said upon questions from defendants Levent Göktaş and Fikret Emek that no one could take responsibility for an illegal order in the TSK, and therefore in the ÖKK, and that no flight could be made without registration.

When asked which defendants he knew, Halil Öven, who was a battalion commander in the ÖKK at the time of the incident, used the expression “Unfortunately, I know him” for Nuri Gökhan Bozkır, to which the Presiding Judge asked, “Why unfortunately?” Öven replied:

“He is someone I didn’t like—then and now. We didn’t like him because he was sent by the MİT.”

Upon questions from defendants Levent Göktaş and Fikret Emek, Övür also said, “You cannot give us an illegal order, you cannot, and even if you did, we would not do it.”

After the hearing of today’s witnesses was completed, the hearing was adjourned to continue tomorrow.

Details are coming...