16 questions from CHP to Minister Yerlikaya! How did the secret witness in the Ayhan Bora Kaplan case escape?

It was revealed that Serdar Sertçelik, who is stated to be the number two suspect in the Ayhan Bora Kaplan criminal organization and who avoided prison by becoming a “secret witness,” had fled abroad despite being under house arrest with an electronic tag. 

Sertçelik also stated in his testimony that he had gone out to have soup while wearing the electronic tag.

According to a report by Saygı Öztürk from Sözcü; Yüksel Mansur Kılınç, CHP spokesperson for the TBMM Security and Intelligence Commission and Istanbul MP, submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the Speaker of the TBMM regarding Sertçelik's escape.

He directed 16 questions to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.

Kılınç asked Yerlikaya the following questions:

1- It is stated that secret witness Serdar Sertçelik left his home on November 27. On what date and with whose support did he flee abroad?

2- What was done to capture Sertçelik after it was determined that he had left the address where he was under house arrest?

4- While under house arrest, Sertçelik violated the judicial control decision and was shot in the legs at a restaurant he went to in Ankara on November 21, 2023, and his legs were put in casts at the hospital. How could Sertçelik flee abroad while his leg was in a cast and he was wearing an electronic tag?

5- Have the official and civilian individuals who helped Sertçelik flee abroad been identified? Are there any police officers who helped the criminal organization suspect escape?

6- Has it been investigated who Sertçelik contacted by phone before he escaped?

7- Are the allegations true that he violated the judicial control decision by leaving his residence 8 times between October 26, 2023, when he was placed under house arrest with an electronic tag on his leg, and the date he fled abroad? If these allegations were investigated, what conclusion was reached?

8- Despite the allegations that Sertçelik frequently violated judicial control measures, why were no measures taken to prevent him from fleeing abroad?

9- According to the Witness Protection Law, law enforcement officers do not have the authority to interview secret witnesses. Despite this, on what grounds did the police officers working at the Ankara Police Department Organized Crime Branch contact him?

10- Has an investigation been conducted into the officials of the Witness Protection Department regarding Sertçelik's escape?

11- The Witness Protection Board is required to submit a report to the Ministries of Interior and Justice every year regarding the individuals for whom it has granted protection and the measures applied. Was the fact that secret witness Sertçelik frequently left his residence, violated the judicial control decision, and was shot in the legs at a restaurant included in the report?

ALLEGATION OF A ROOM WITHOUT CAMERAS

12- Are the allegations true that while Sertçelik was in the detention center at the Organized Crime Control Branch, he was taken to a room without cameras in the middle of the night? If true, on what grounds and by whom was Sertçelik taken from where he was to the room without cameras?

13- Are the allegations true that a police chief received a 300 thousand dollar bribe from Kaplan, that this incident was detected, and that the police chief accused of bribery defended himself by saying, “I was collecting aid for Menzil (the Menzil sect). It was not a bribe, it was money taken for a charitable cause”?

14- Has an investigation been conducted into the allegations that there are sect-community structures within the police force and that there are police officers belonging to sects and communities among the police officers conducting the Kaplan criminal organization investigation?

15- In his testimony in the prison where he is being held, Kaplan said that he bought a Rolex watch as a bribe for a former police chief and delivered the watch to the police chief's lover, N.K. Is it true that the watch invoice has not yet been sent to the file at the Ankara Courthouse Bureau of Crimes by Public Officials?

16- Why was the testimony of Kerem Gökay Öner, the Ankara Police Department Organized Crime Branch Manager, taken at the Gendarmerie Counter-Terrorism Department instead of the Police Department?

In his parliamentary inquiry, CHP's Kılınç argued that organized crime organizations threaten individual and social security and also have negative effects on the structure of state institutions.

"RELATIONS WITH POLICE AND JUDICIARY MEMBERS MUST BE INVESTIGATED"

Kılınç said the following:

"The information obtained during the operations against the Kaplan criminal organization and the ongoing trial process shows that members of the criminal organization have entered into conflict-of-interest relationships with some officials in the state's police and judicial institutions. On the other hand, discussions about sect and community structures in police and judicial institutions, political groupings, competition between teams, and interest-based rivalries create significant and difficult-to-prevent destructive weaknesses in the fight against organized crime.

The relations of organized crime organizations, especially the Kaplan armed criminal organization, with police and judiciary members must be investigated. The extent of the bribery and other conflict-of-interest relationships of state officials with organized crime organizations must be revealed. Measures to be taken to prevent criminal organizations from infiltrating state institutions must be determined. Mafia, sect, and community structures within the state must be uncovered, and the necessary actions must absolutely be taken by the state."