12punto exclusive: Who is the only defendant in the Sinan Ateş murder case to say 'I am an MHP member'?

Caner TAŞPINAR

Former Ülkü Ocakları President and Hacettepe University faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinan Ateş lost his life following an armed attack in Ankara on December 30, 2022.

The 22 defendants facing charges related to the murder, including "premeditated murder," "attempted murder," "incitement to commit a crime," and "aiding and abetting a crime," are set to stand trial starting July 1, 2024.

Among the defendants in the Sinan Ateş murder case are individuals affiliated with the MHP.

Tolgahan Demirbaş and Emre Yüksel had previously served as executives in the Ülkü Ocakları. One of the defendants, MHP-affiliated lawyer Serdar Öktem, had also been an MHP parliamentary candidate for Istanbul. Another MHP-affiliated figure is Ufuk Köktürk, an executive at the MHP Istanbul Provincial Presidency...

Only one of the defendants in the Sinan Ateş murder case who is affiliated with the MHP has stated, "I am an MHP member."

12punto found that statement within the thousands of pages of supplementary folders in the murder case file.

Among those arrested was Ufuk Köktürk, a member of the MHP Istanbul Provincial Board of Directors.

Köktürk's name, which previously appeared on the MHP Istanbul Provincial Presidency's website, has been removed from the board of directors list.

Ufuk Köktürk was the only individual to explicitly say "I am an MHP member" during his interrogation by the Ankara 3rd Criminal Judgeship of Peace on January 4, 2023.

In the same statement, Köktürk, who also highlighted that he possessed an "unlicensed firearm," said the following:

"I did not flee when the police arrived; I was sitting in my home. I have an unlicensed pistol; I did not even feel the need to hide it. I am already politically an MHP member."

Here is that record:

News Source: Caner Taşpınar