New phase in the Gezi Trial that began with FETÖ evidence

The detention of journalist İsmail Saymaz on allegations that he was influential in the Gezi Park protests, "Is the Gezi Park Trial being expanded?" has once again brought the question to mind. Figures close to the government, such as journalists Fuat Uğur and Cem Küçük, have been suggesting for some time that the scope of the Gezi Park Trial would expand and that there would be new developments regarding businesspeople and media members.

The Gezi Trial began years ago based on evidence obtained by FETÖ-linked police officers...

In two separate investigations conducted out of Istanbul, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and numerous other individuals were detained. One of those detained was journalist İsmail Saymaz. 

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office stated that, within the scope of the ongoing investigation, Saymaz had extensive contact with the defendants of the Gezi Park Trial, and "aiding an attempt to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey" announced that he was detained on these charges.

The detention of Saymaz due to the Gezi Park protests has brought the case in question back to the agenda.

IT BEGAN WITH EVIDENCE FROM FETÖ-LINKED POLICE

In the investigation and trial processes within the scope of the Gezi Park case, police officers and members of the judiciary who were later determined to be linked to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) played critical roles. 

During the 2013 Gezi Park protests, many of Istanbul's high-level officials were later tried as members of FETÖ. Many police chiefs from the Istanbul Police Department, most notably the then-Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, were arrested as part of FETÖ investigations. 

It was revealed that Istanbul Deputy Police Chief Ramazan Emekli, who gave the order to burn the tents in Gezi Park, and Security Branch Manager Yunus Dolar were ByLock users.

Another then-Deputy Security Branch Manager, Mithat Aynacı, was caught inside a tank during the July 15, 2016, coup attempt, and ByLock was detected on his phone. 

During the investigation phase, FETÖ-linked police and judicial officials also took decisive steps. While the Gezi events were still ongoing, a comprehensive report prepared by the Istanbul Police Department's Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) Branch was submitted to the relevant units on June 15, 2013. The then-KOM Branch Manager Nazmi Ardıç, who prepared this report, was also among those later arrested for FETÖ membership.

Ardıç's team conducted extensive technical surveillance and wiretapping regarding the Gezi Park protests throughout 2013. The evidence collected by the FETÖ-linked Ardıç's team was influential in the sentences given to those tried in the Gezi Park Case.

The illegal wiretap records became a subject of legal debate in subsequent years. While the Istanbul 30th High Criminal Court, which conducted the initial trial, ruled that these transcripts were obtained unlawfully, the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which later heard the case, accepted them as legal evidence under the guise of "re-evaluation." 

Based on the indictment prepared by the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) Branch, Istanbul Public Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş drafted the first indictment regarding the Gezi Park events in 2014. Akkaş, who was later revealed to be a member of FETÖ, was dismissed due to his role in the December 17-25 investigations and fled abroad. 

It was later determined that Judge Muzaffer İren, who served on the panel of the court that heard the first Gezi Trial, was also a member of FETÖ. 

FIRST ACQUITTAL, THEN CONVICTION

The Gezi Park chapter did not close with the first trial, which concluded with an acquittal in 2015. While the conspiracies established by FETÖ within the judiciary and police were exposed one by one following the 2016 coup attempt and those cases were annulled, the Gezi investigation file remained shelved. 

That was until businessman Osman Kavala was arrested in 2017 as part of a separate investigation...

Following this development, the prosecutor's office took the Gezi Trial off the shelf. Although no new evidence was found, old communication records and documents collected by FETÖ-linked police officers in 2013 were pulled from the archives. 

The prosecution argued in the 2019 Gezi indictment that evidence that had passed through the hands of FETÖ remained valid. In the new Gezi trial that began in 2019, Kavala and 15 others were accused of "attempting to overthrow the government by using force and violence."

Although the court of first instance acquitted all defendants again in February 2020, this decision was overturned on appeal. In the retrial, the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court sentenced Osman Kavala to aggravated life imprisonment in April 2022, and sentenced 7 individuals, including Mücella Yapıcı, urban planner Tayfun Kahraman, and lawyer Can Atalay, to 18 years in prison each. 

Illegal wiretaps conducted by FETÖ-linked police and judicial personnel in the initial stages, the preparation of summaries and indictments, and the escalation of violence on the ground were the most critical factors determining the course of the Gezi Trial. 

CLAIMS THAT "THE SCOPE OF THE CASE WILL EXPAND"

Claims that the scope of the Gezi Trial would be expanded have been voiced by individuals close to the government for some time.

Following a column by Türkiye newspaper writer Fuat Uğur, talent manager Ayşe Barım was detained and arrested in Gezi Park on the allegation that she was "one of the individuals who planned, organized, and directed the events, and who provided direction and was decisive by stating her own decisions when asked for her will."

Cem Küçük, also from the Türkiye newspaper, had been claiming for some time that the Gezi Park Trial would be expanded to include business people, and that investigations would be launched against names such as Cem Boyner.

Journalist İsmail Saymaz was also detained today within the framework of a new Gezi investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, on charges of "aiding an attempt to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey."