Özgür Özel is expected at this important trial!...

December 18 marked the 22nd anniversary of the assassination of academic and author Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necip Hablemitoğlu in front of his home.

Unfortunately, for 22 years, Hablemitoğlu’s killer or killers have not been found/could not be found. Yes, there is a trial that has been ongoing for about 2 years; but no one is looking at what is happening in this trial.

The Ankara Metropolitan Municipality built the Necip Hablemitoğlu Park near the house where he was murdered for this year's commemoration. The opening of the park was performed by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel.

In his speech there, after explaining that the late Hablemitoğlu’s warnings regarding “FETÖ” were only understood after the July 15 coup attempt, Özel brought up the Hablemitoğlu assassination trial, Esenyurt Mayor Ahmet Özer, and the Gezi prisoners, and first said the following:

“There are no detained defendants in the 10-defendant Hablemitoğlu trial. There is one [Nuri Gökhan Bozkır], but he is not there because he was detained, but because he did not comply with judicial control, it turned into a detention status, a sanction or measure applied to him. One of the critical defendants, Levent Göktaş, was arrested after being caught in Bulgaria and extradited to Turkey, but was released on the grounds that there was 'no suspicion of flight.' Our mayors, who received a clean record on March 31, are detained while on their way to the municipality on the grounds that there is a 'suspicion of flight.' Ahmet Özer, who goes to the municipality every morning at 08:00, is arrested; there is a suspicion of flight in his case. There is a suspicion of flight in the case of Can Atalay, whom Hatay voted for and sent to Parliament. There is a suspicion of flight in the case of Tayfun Kahraman, who has no request other than dropping his daughter Vera off at school once, while there is no suspicion of flight for Levent Göktaş, who fled abroad, was caught in Bulgaria, and was extradited. That is why he is being tried without detention.”

He then made the following assessment:

“It seems that we all know the real killer. The real killer is undoubtedly the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ). This murder was committed to silence someone who exposed them, someone who showed who they were and what their intentions were. But if the killers of this murder can still be protected to this extent, if nothing was done regarding this file from 2002 to July 15, 2016, if it is said, 'If the murder committed during my term is uncovered, it is unclear where it will lead or which violation will be revealed,' and yet if a move is made only after July 15 and all 10 defendants are still left without detention, it means that someone is still protecting those dark relationships of the past and that deep state network.”

REACTION TO ÖZEL FROM THE GÖKTAŞ FRONT

These statements by Özel led to reactions from the defendants in the Hablemitoğlu assassination trial, especially retired Colonel Levent Göktaş.

Göktaş’s lawyer, Ali Soykan, said, “First of all, these expressions are not only unbecoming of a political party leader, but they also constitute the crime of attempting to influence a fair trial in an ongoing case. The only correct thing in Mr. Özel’s statements regarding the trial is the number of defendants. While no political party, including the CHP and Mr. Özel, has followed the trial until today, saying ‘if the killers of this trial can still be protected like this,’ including Levent Göktaş and referring to his release, is an understatement, to say the least. Besides this, we also find it meaningful that he only mentioned Göktaş’s name in the 10-defendant trial.” After saying this, he made the following suggestions to Özel:

- “The panel that first looked at the case and was later assigned to other courts, upon the definitive proof that Tarkan Mumcuoğlu, who was called the ‘trigger man’ in the indictment, was abroad at that date, released all defendants by pointing out that ‘the real perpetrators could be outside.’ Despite this fact, we want to attribute the explanation of Özgür Özel, a political figure, that ‘if the killers of this trial can still be protected like this’ to his ignorance.”

- “If Mr. Özel has an interest as a politician in the trial regarding the murder of the late Hablemitoğlu; he should investigate the prosecutor who was both the investigation prosecutor and the trial prosecutor, as we saw in the last example in the Ergenekon conspiracy, and whom witness Zihni Çakır claimed, ‘I received information that he used ByLock.’”

- “He should wonder how the security camera footage of a building overlooking the crime scene disappeared while it was in the file; why the Prosecutor said ‘it does not exist’ even though the footage of the late Hablemitoğlu at the Eskişehir conference, which would reveal the real perpetrators, was in the Judicial Deposit, and then how he suddenly found it, and why he secretly took and examined this footage before telling the Court that he had found it; why the Prosecutor claimed ‘there is no such improved footage’ even though Hablemitoğlu’s footage at Migros just before the murder was sent to the USA, clarified, and put into the file; and likewise, why the Prosecutor issued a decision of non-prosecution before this case was opened regarding the officials who were proven to be FETÖ members and who participated in and influenced the Hablemitoğlu investigation in some way.”

- “He should look at the ‘I was tortured’ allegations of Nuri Gökhan Bozkır, one of the defendants in the case, who is still not even known how he was brought to Turkey.”

- “He should ask why no steps have been taken for 3 months regarding our criminal complaint about journalist Abdurrahman Şimşek, whom we proved gave false testimony in court.”

- “Mr. Özel may not know that Levent Göktaş, who is alleged to have planned this murder in October 2002, was assigned by the General Staff on the same date to protect the late Bülent Ecevit, the Chairman of his own party. But at least he should think about why Levent Göktaş, who is claimed to have committed this murder by working with FETÖ, spent 5.5 years in prison, 3 years of which were in solitary confinement, in the Ergenekon case, which was a FETÖ conspiracy, and only then say the words, ‘if the killers of this trial can still be protected like this.’”

HINT OF ''CERTAIN CLIQUES''

Following these statements, Attorney Ali Soykan, emphasizing that the expert appointed by the Court submitted a report on October 17 stating that there was no similarity between the persons identified in Hablemitoğlu’s footage in Eskişehir and Migros and the defendants, and stating that he could provide information about the case to Özgür Özel if he wished, also noted the following:

“We think that certain cliques, who realize that Levent Göktaş will be acquitted in this case due to the evidence situation in the file and the latest stage reached, are making wrong directions to put pressure on the court and the public. But what is really important is not what these cliques are doing, but why the directions of these cliques are believed. We also believe that the murder of the late Hablemitoğlu was a political assassination, and we are waiting for Mr. Özgür Özel at the hearing to be held on the 2nd.”

Müyesser YILDIZ

December 30, 2024