Necip Hablemitoğlu’s lawyer Hüseyin Buzoğlu: 'If Hablemitoğlu hadn't been killed, he would have been imprisoned in the Ergenekon case'

Müyesser Yıldız / 12punto.com.tr

The first witness heard in today's session of the Necip Hablemitoğlu trial, held at the 28th High Criminal Court, stated that he did not know any of the defendants.

Özkan explained the following:

“I knew Necip Hablemitoğlu; he was my neighbor. There was a match that evening. I had a guest. He said someone was lying in the parking lot. We went there. Because his head was between the cars, I couldn't make out his face. I called the police and summoned the doorman, but he didn't recognize him either. Then the police and Mr. Necip's wife arrived. I heard some noise beforehand, but I did not hear any gunfire.”

Upon Ziver Özkan saying, "I didn't see anything suspicious before the incident," Atty. Ali Soykan reminded him of his statement to the police after the assassination, in which he said that a person who got out of a vehicle entering the empty lot across from the house walked toward the apartment building, and that there was activity after this. He then asked if the activity occurred after this person's arrival.

Stating that he did not remember, Özkan replied, “It was a minor anecdote for that day.”

The second witness heard was Hüseyin Buzoğlu, who served as the late Hablemitoğlu's lawyer in 1999 and as the lawyer for the assassination investigation between 2004 and 2007. He stated that he only knew defendants Levent Göktaş and Fikret Emek because they were tried together in the Ergenekon file.

HE REVEALED HE RECEIVED THREATS

Responding to questions from the presiding judge and lawyers, Atty. Buzoğlu explained that Hablemitoğlu had mentioned receiving an offer for the Undersecretariat of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) once, which occurred before the November 3 elections, but that he did not say who the offer came from. Buzoğlu noted that Hablemitoğlu had received threats due to his books and statements regarding Fethullah Gülen and his organization, the Bergama gold mine, and German foundations.

Emphasizing that since 1990, while there was a dirty alliance between politics and the Gülen organization, Hablemitoğlu had brought to the agenda that the group was a reactionary organization at the center of religious fundamentalism, but that these facts did not reach the public sufficiently because the dirty political alliance continued, Atty. Buzoğlu accused witness Atty. Refik Ali Uçarcı of lying, and former deputies Ramazan Toprak and Halil Şıvgın of trying to discredit Hablemitoğlu by creating a false perception about him.

Atty. Buzoğlu continued his words as follows:

"The discretion regarding where this indictment will go lies with you, but there is the ugliest allegation, such as that he wanted to be a deputy from the AKP, aimed at discrediting Necip Hablemitoğlu.

It is alleged that he wanted this because he was in financial distress due to the lawsuits filed against him. Only in 2014 was compensation awarded in one case, and that was overturned by the Court of Cassation. The claim of financial distress is absolutely not true. When a case ended, he would weep bitterly, saying, ‘I have saved my children's livelihood.’"

'IF HE HAD NOT BEEN KILLED...'

Noting that the diagram prepared by the FETÖ-linked former police chief Recep Güven for the Ergenekon conspiracy and the statements of Sabri Uzun reveal that there was an attempt to include Necip Hablemitoğlu in the Ergenekon case, Atty. Buzoğlu said, “If he had not been killed, he would have been taken in the Ergenekon case, just like all other patriots.”

'FOR THIS MURDER TO BE SOLVED...'

Atty. Buzoğlu also answered a question from Ersan Barkın, the lawyer for the Hablemitoğlu family, regarding his findings on the initial investigation process:

“For such a murder to be solved, the current government must go. As long as it doesn't, it will not be solved. As far as I know, the duty prosecutor that day was Hakan Kızılarslan, but Cengiz Köksal was assigned. It is significant that Köksal told journalist Yasemin Güneri, ‘This file will be subject to the statute of limitations,’ and that Ankara Police Chief Ercüment Yılmaz, who was appointed before the AKP, remained in office for years. I did not see any significant contributions from him.”

“When we went to the Police Department with Mrs. Şengül to give a statement, while it was seen that the Counter-Terrorism Department (TEM) did not know the individuals she saw in the car that morning, during the break, intelligence officers showed these people with their names and pictures. There was a dual structure in the Police Department. When I told Ercüment Yılmaz about this situation, he said, ‘Did they do this again?’”

'THE END OF THIS...'

Upon the question from one of the defense lawyers, Emrah Yücel, asking, "Did you explain these events in the statement you gave to Prosecutor Zafer Ergün?", Atty. Buzoğlu said the following:

“I answered whatever he asked. I asked the Prosecutor, ‘If the end of this business reaches Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will you continue?’ He said, ‘Of course.’”

Defendant Gökhan Nuri Bozkır asked Atty. Buzoğlu if he knew journalists Zihni Çakır and Abdurrahman Şimşek. Reminding everyone of Zihni Çakır's role in the Ergenekon trial, Atty. Buzoğlu said, "Now they are going down another well with the same person's rope."

'THIS INVESTIGATION WAS COVERED UP'

While answering Atty. Ali Soykan's questions, Atty. Buzoğlu emphasized that Erdoğan did not attend the funeral ceremony of Yücel Özbilgin, who was killed in the Council of State attack, at Kocatepe Mosque, but went to Antalya instead, and that he stated the Hablemitoğlu investigation was covered up there.

Regarding Atty. Eren Turan's questions about Hablemitoğlu's MİT Undersecretariat candidacy, Buzoğlu repeated that he had mentioned this before the November 3 elections and said, "Besides, would this government make such an offer to someone who has written such harsh articles about Abdullah Gül?"

While answering another question, Atty. Buzoğlu said, "Can an indictment that would discredit Necip Bey's moral personality to this extent be signed?"