Bora Kaplan and Serdar Sertçelik applauded the prosecutor, saying 'Good for you'

Müyesser Yıldız - 12punto.com.tr

The 8th hearing of the case, held by the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court at the Sincan Prison Campus, began today with the defense of Barış Kurt. Explaining that he is a mapping engineer and an academic with no criminal record, Kurt claimed that he did not beat or have anyone beat Erkan Doğan, who was allegedly subjected to having his teeth pulled out, and that the HTS records in the police report were distorted. Noting that he was arrested on charges of membership in an organization due to a statement attributed to the secret witness M7, codenamed Serdar Sertçelik, claiming that he 'manages the organization's political and judicial connections,' but that no such statement exists in the secret witness testimony, Kurt continued as follows:

'I have never been a member of any criminal organization. I have completed three university degrees. My father is very well-off; I have no need for such a thing. The other defendants are my friends; I do not want to look down on them, but our education levels, lifestyles, and clothing are different. They are valets, parking attendants, and tradesmen. No one is in a position to give me orders. I am a sensible person, an engineer who has signed off on Turkey's most important projects. My name is mentioned in five places in M7's statement. That I went to the courthouse with Sadık Soylu. Yes, I know Sadık Soylu; he is a 30-year friend of mine, but I have never been to the courthouse. Let's say I did; I don't know any judges or prosecutors anyway.'

At the end of his defense, Kurt thanked the Presiding Judge for reading the entire file, to which the Judge replied, 'It was tiring, but I am familiar with the file.'

Kurt's lawyer, Cavit Öztürk, stated that he was very saddened to see that an attempt was made to manufacture crimes in the file, saying, 'Those who tried to manufacture them are also being tried here. That is why we are requesting to join their file. All evidence has been manufactured, the law enforcement's actions and procedures have been registered as unlawful, and a lawsuit has been filed against them. This is also the reason for the appellate court's reversal. What is the reason, friends? This is not a crime against the constitutional order; it is a common crime. Why did you focus on it so much? This file is a file that falls apart no matter where you hold it.' Lawyer Bilal Veske also described the file as a 'gossip investigation' and asked about the source of the audacity to manipulate HTS and base station records.

Defendant Kamber Keskin stated that there were no changes in his statements, but that many things had changed in his life, and limited his remarks to: 'My only crime is being a security guard at Bora Kaplan's venue. There are thousands of people doing this job. Because of this, I spent 1 year in prison. I was fired from the municipality where I had worked for 10 years, and my relationship with my wife deteriorated.'

Keskin's lawyer, Nazım Orhan, stated that he wanted to question the institution of secret witness testimony since his client was accused based on such testimony, and said the following:

'This institution was introduced into Turkish law to create FETÖ-style justice. While it could have been a very good mechanism in the hands of well-intentioned judicial and police personnel, it has become a weapon in the hands of those with malicious intent. Secret witness testimony is a matter that should be based on demand, not an offer. Therefore, I want Serdar Sertçelik to be asked whether he requested to be a secret witness himself or if it was offered to him.'

When the presiding judge directed the question to him, Serdar Sertçelik replied, 'I stated this in my testimony as well. There was no offer; they forced me to become a secret witness.'

Upon Attorney Orhan's question, 'The accusations directed at my client were described in the secret witness testimony as if he were there. Was he there?', Sertçelik said, 'I was not there at the time of the incident, nor did I see it. If you look at the HTS records, it will be seen where I was.'

When no other defendants were available to present their defense during the morning session, the presiding judge announced, 'We have issued warrants for the witnesses to be brought by force,' and adjourned for lunch with the expectation that they might arrive. He also mentioned that Serdar Sertçelik's mother, father, and sibling had been summoned as witnesses and asked Sertçelik if he had any information about this. Sertçelik replied, 'They will come on Monday.' The presiding judge then asked, 'Can't they come tomorrow?' Sertçelik stated that they could only come on Monday because his sister is in Antalya.

WHO IS THE ARMED INDIVIDUAL?

At the beginning of the afternoon session, defense attorney Baran Tansu reported that an individual accompanying former Ankara Deputy Police Chief Murat Çelik had arrived at the courtroom entrance armed, and requested that a record be made, stating the following:

'While we are stripped down to our belts when passing through the X-ray, one of the individuals with Murat Çelik passed through, and even though the bailiffs shouted after him, he came to the front of the courtroom with his weapon. There are people here whose purpose for being here we do not know. This weapon could fall into the wrong hands. This is primarily a threat to you.'

Upon this, the presiding judge instructed the police chief responsible for the courtroom, 'Conduct the necessary investigation and provide information.'

The hearing continued with the defense of Necdet Atilla Çiftçi, the former head of the Civil Teams of the Çankaya Police Department. Third-class Police Chief Çiftçi, one of the names accused by Erkan Doğan—who claimed he went to the Esat Police Station after being extorted by Bora Kaplan but that his procedures were covered up—asked whether Doğan had also filed complaints against the police officers at the Esat and 10 Nisan police stations.

Stating that 'the police officers who conducted this operation did their jobs very incompletely,' he emphasized that the identification by farmer Erkan Doğan was not done in person but through a uniformed photograph, and that if Erkan Doğan were to come today, he would not be able to identify him because they had never met.

WITNESSES REGARDING THE FOUND PHONE

When the presiding judge wanted to hear from lawyer Recep Öksüz, the attorney for former Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime (KOM) Branch Deputy Director Şevket Demircan, as a witness regarding the found phone that was hung on the door of his office, Attorney Öksüz stated that both he and his secretary had already given statements to the prosecutor's office and said, 'There is no need to testify again.'

When the judge reminded him that he had previously said he would testify, Attorney Öksüz noted that their statements remained the same. Upon the judge's question, 'Are you going to do it or not?', Attorney Öksüz replied, 'No, both my statement and my secretary's statement are valid.' The judge then emphasized that they would hear from the other witness, referring to Attorney Öksüz's secretary.

WHOSE PROTECTION IS THE ARMED INDIVIDUAL?

Meanwhile, it was alleged that the individual who came right up to the front of the courtroom was the bodyguard of M. Ö.—whose fingerprints were found on the recovered phone and who was requested to be heard as a witness—and that he was carrying more than one weapon.

Murat Çelik, who was reported to have arrived with the individual in question, told reporters during a break in the hearing, 'We leave our weapons at the door.'

During the hearing, Çağlar Karakaş, the driver of the police vehicle that went to obtain a report from a doctor stating that 'there is a medical impediment to taking Serdar Sertçelik into custody,' was heard as a witness. When Karakaş explained that he did not hear what the team leader, Ahmet Deniz, discussed with the doctor and did not ask why they went a second time, the presiding judge reacted by saying, 'If you don't know the law and regulations, why are you doing this job?'

When team leader Ahmet Deniz, who was heard as a witness, stated that they absolutely did not direct the doctor, the prosecutor asked why the doctor had given such a statement. Deniz replied, 'He is likely panicking due to the scale the matter has reached and is trying to shift the responsibility.'

Serdar Sertçelik then asked Deniz whether he had spoken with police officer Resul. When Deniz stated that he had not spoken with him regarding the report, Sertçelik said the following:

'Resul spoke in my house, right next to me. They struggled for 45 minutes for the second report. He said, "The prosecutor and the directors are aware of this." Ahmet Deniz probably didn't want to go; he insisted on explaining this and said, "Only the detention will be added."'

When Ahmet Deniz stated that they absolutely did not have such a conversation, Sertçelik's lawyer, Alperen Ekinci, asked whether he consented to having HTS and base station records brought into the file to resolve the contradictions. The presiding judge asked both Ahmet Deniz and Çağlar Karakaş, 'Do you consent?' While both individuals responded positively, Ahmet Deniz explained, 'The hospital is very large, so the time we spent at the hospital reached one hour, but the time we spent with the doctor did not exceed 5 minutes.'

NO FINGERPRINTS OF THE PERSON WHO FOUND THE PHONE

Ulviye Dönmez, the secretary of lawyer Recep Özel who found the phone hanging on the office door, reiterated the statement she gave to the prosecutor's office. The presiding judge asked her whether she was concerned that there might be a dangerous substance inside the bag when she picked it up and placed it on lawyer Recep Öksüz's desk. Dönmez replied, 'It didn't cross my mind.'

The prosecutor then asked Dönmez, who stated that she held the bag by its handle, 'There are no fingerprints of yours on the bag, what do you say to that?' Dönmez replied, 'I wouldn't know.'

Bora Kaplan noted that the official report stated that 4 people found the phone, whereas Ulviye Dönmez stated that she found it herself. When he asked, 'Is the lady telling the truth, or the report?', the presiding judge warned him not to make comments.

When Bora Kaplan asked, 'Which one is a lie, I am asking that,' the Presiding Judge stated, 'If we determine that you are lying, we will file a criminal complaint.'

Meanwhile, the defendants alleged that lawyer Recep Öksüz was coaching the witness. Bora Kaplan requested that camera footage be reviewed to determine whether such coaching had taken place.

THEY APPLAUDED THE PROSECUTOR

Businessman Mustafa Öztaş, whose fingerprints were found on the bag containing the recovered phone, was also heard as a witness.

Öztaş reiterated that Murat Çelik, whom he has known for a long time, came to his office with Şevket Demircan and lawyer Recep Öksüz to correct an error in a document and print it out, and that he might have touched the bag at that time, which is how his fingerprints remained. Bora Kaplan's lawyer, Umut Köroğlu, emphasized that there were three fingerprints on the bag and the package. Upon this, Öztaş reacted by saying, 'I am not a circumciser or anything. I don't walk around with gloves on.'

Lawyer Köroğlu then remarked, 'How can this man be a witness in this file?'

The prosecutor, beginning with the statement, 'It is not binding at this stage, but I will make a clarification,' stated that in their criminal reports and investigations, they had identified the name Mustafa Öztaş as the primary user of a document on the recovered phone, adding the following:

'It is observed that this document was accessed from a device using this username, and that it was saved without being altered or was recreated.'

Following this statement, Bora Kaplan and Serdar Sertçelik applauded the prosecutor, saying, 'Well done.'

While the prosecutor asked Öztaş whether he had met with Serdar Sertçelik abroad and whether he had delivered data or a mobile phone to him, lawyer Umut Köroğlu also posed the question, 'Is it a coincidence that you obtained that PDF folder number from a kiosk in France on the day you went to and returned from France?'

Mustafa Öztaş replied, 'This is the first time I've heard of going to France to get a SIM card. Numbers from every country are already sold in Istanbul.'

As the lawyers interrupted each other to ask numerous questions in rapid succession, the presiding judge noted, 'We are at the most critical moments of the hearing.'

BORA KAPLAN: THERE IS CAMERA FOOTAGE

During the questions from Bora Kaplan, whom Mustafa Öztaş had referred to by saying, 'We encountered each other a few times in some venues, but I have no intimacy with him,' the following dialogue took place:

Kaplan: Did he come to my office or not?

Öztaş: Yes, I went.

Presiding Judge: "You said, 'We met at the venues.' Why did you go?

Öztaş: For a chat once or twice.

Kaplan: Has he ever borrowed money from me?

Öztaş: I don't remember.

Kaplan: I gave 200,000 liras once and 250,000 liras another time.

Presiding Judge: Do you have any documents or witnesses?

Kaplan: I gave it to him and his driver in person. Because I knew the police would set a trap for me, I kept all the office camera recordings. When these are watched, it will be seen that they entered the office empty-handed and left with bags.

When the Presiding Judge asked him to slow down following his rapid-fire questions, Kaplan replied, "We have a wound." After the Judge responded, "If it continues like this, I don't know what will happen to the wound," the dialogue continued as follows:

Kaplan: May God deal with him. I know what he did. I skipped the most important point; when I was sitting in my office, a friend of mine was with us. Did Mustafa Öztaş say 'We can manipulate WhatsApp messages' or not? After I was arrested, did this friend of mine call you, Attorney Ramazan Tufan, and ask about Erkan Doğan's fake messages?

Öztaş: No.

Kaplan: Let Ramazan Tufan be heard as a witness.

QUESTION REGARDING ALCOHOL ADDICTION

Bora Kaplan's lawyer, Tarık Teoman, stated that Mustafa Öztaş claimed not to know lawyer Cengiz Haliç, despite having visited Haliç's office many times between 2019 and 2020, and asked, "Do you have an alcohol addiction?" When Öztaş replied, "Did I come in drunk?", Teoman noted the following:

"Too much. You were not in a condition to stand, which is why I asked who you were. Why did you come to the office of someone you didn't know?"

Following the completion of Mustafa Öztaş's testimony, the presiding judge concluded the hearing at 7:10 PM and told Bora Kaplan's lawyer, Umut Köroğlu, that they could hear Ramazan Tufan if they had him ready tomorrow.

The judge also provided an explanation to lawyer Baran Tansu regarding the report filed about the armed individual, stating, "It has been determined that he is a protection officer."

When lawyer Tansu asked whether he had the authority to come into the courtroom in such a manner, the judge stated that the necessary action regarding that would be taken separately.

As they were leaving the courtroom, Bora Kaplan and lawyer Duran Göçer stated that they had replicated the found phone and would prove it tomorrow. When lawyer Göçer said, "We can do it on your phone too if you like," the judge joked, "Don't get my number involved."

The hearing will continue tomorrow.

News Source: Müyesser Yıldız