Bora Kaplan case: We got the July 15 weapons from the MIT! Are you kidding me?

In the retrial of the Bora Kaplan criminal organization case following the Appellate Court's partial reversal and the decision to merge related cases, it was requested that Supreme Court Member Yüksel Kocaman, Supreme Court Prosecutor Ahmet Yıkılmaz, and Ankara Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Veysel Kaçmaz, whose names appear frequently in the file, be heard as witnesses.

The hearing prosecutor also asked Fethi Koyuncu, who is imprisoned for membership in the organization, whether he was the person referred to as "Fethi turned out to be a traitor" in the correspondence between Serdar Sertçelik and Tansel Aktan, and whether he had any concerns about his safety.

Stating that he had not received any threats, Koyuncu replied, "Ask the person who is a secret witness why they are calling me a traitor."

The ninth session of the trial, held today by the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court at the Sincan Prison complex, began with the defense of defendant Muhammet Kaplan.

Stating that in the first trial, everything he said turned out to be true even before Serdar Sertçelik's videos, the police officers' statements, and Nurullah Özgür Kopuk were in the picture, Kaplan said the following:

"They raided my house with 40 police officers while I was out with my fiancée. Allegedly, my cousin Adnan Kaplan said that I pulled Erkan Doğan's teeth. I swear to the Quran, there is no such thing. Meanwhile, Nurullah Özgür Kopuk called and said, 'I am close to Murat Çelik, let's make you a secret witness.' I did not accept, I told them where I was, the police came, but they showed me as if I had been captured."

Kaplan, who accused Murat Çelik, Şevket Demircan, Ufuk Gültekin, and a "burly" police officer who is not among the police currently on trial but whom he could identify if his photo were brought, of mistreating him at the police station, said regarding Commissioner Metehan İlkyaz, "This kid has nothing, no swearing or insults. While we were chatting, he asked where we got the July 15 photos, and I told him we got them from the MIT."

Muhammet Kaplan continued as follows:

"That burly police officer was walking around with Resul Aydoğdu. They put me inside and said, 'give this 16-17 page statement and get on with your work.' I jumped in front of the camera and said I would not give this statement. Resul Aydoğdu came to me and said, 'well, what you said is already...' etc. They made me meet with Nurullah Özgür Kopuk. He had a gray gun at his waist and said, 'If you don't give a statement, your life is over.' I did not accept. When Serdar Sertçelik came, I told him what had been done and that they would do the same to him. Now they say, 'there is no interview room, that's a sports room'; yes, it's a sports room, they were boxing! You see the police, you see Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya, you see the former court president, the hero Mehmet Güven, Mr. President; who am I going to tell my troubles to? Save us from them. Mr. President, just be fair."

Kaplan's lawyer, Volkan Şener, also drew attention to the differences between the reports received from the Gendarmerie and the Police Criminal Department regarding the found phone, and noted that Mustafa Öztaş, whose fingerprints were found on the phone and who was heard as a witness yesterday, appeared as the creator of a PDF file, saying, "This phone has no evidentiary value. The reports cannot be relied upon either. We don't know who to trust. Whether it's an independent institution or the Forensic Medicine Institute; but a third eye is needed."

The prosecutor asked Attorney Şener what these technical findings were based on and whether they had received any reports. Attorney Şener said he had not received a report but had asked artificial intelligence.

While defendant Fethi Koyuncu did not accept the accusations against him, his lawyer Uğur Ulutaş stated that there was not a single HTS or base station record showing that Koyuncu received orders or instructions from Bora Kaplan, but that he had been imprisoned for three years even though his detention period had expired.

The prosecutor also asked Koyuncu the reason for this, stating that he had submitted an effective remorse petition in the first trial but later made different statements.

The following dialogues took place upon this question:

Koyuncu: The police's correspondence had emerged. I was going to tell them about the offers and threats they made to me. I was going to expose their games.
Prosecutor: Were you subjected to any pressure, threat, violence, or physical intervention at this stage?
Koyuncu: No, they said, "We will have you arrested."
Prosecutor: So you were not affected by their threats. Was there any guidance for effective remorse or secret witness status?
Koyuncu: Yes, I was asked to both engage in effective remorse and be a secret witness.
Prosecutor: How were you going to expose the police's games?
Koyuncu: I was going to prove that they were trying to pin the crimes committed in 2016 on me.
Prosecutor: Did you know that the police were arrested?
Koyuncu: Their messages were published before this.
Prosecutor: Did you file a complaint after the police were arrested?
Koyuncu: I didn't want to deal with it.
Prosecutor: But it is important. Do you have any concerns about your safety? Have you received any threats? Because in the correspondence between Serdar Sertçelik and Tansel Aktan, it says, "Fethi turned out to be rotten." Are you the Fethi mentioned here? Why is it said like this?
Koyuncu: Since there is no other Fethi, it must be me. You have to ask him. Ask the person who is a secret witness why they are calling me a traitor; ask them.

Defendant Furkan Anıl Bahar, in his defense, merely said that he no longer trusts the police, requested that an investigation be conducted on him by the MIT, and said, "I am not stupid enough to be a member of an organization. I am someone who has completed their master's degree."

Hatice Taşdan, the lawyer for Doğuşcan Uğurlu, who was acquitted in the first trial, also claimed that the file was not read at the Appellate Court and that her client was thrown into the bag, and requested that Supreme Court Member Yüksel Kocaman, Supreme Court Prosecutor Ahmet Yıkılmaz, and Ankara Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Veysel Kaçmaz, whose names appear in the file, be heard as witnesses, saying, "Every day some filth comes out."

The Burly Police Officer

In the afternoon part of the hearing, Attorney Volkan Şener stated that they had identified the police officer whom his client Muhammet Kaplan described as "burly, big," and that this person, named Y. Ö., was Murat Çelik's driver, and requested that he be heard as a witness.

Bora Kaplan's lawyer, Oğuzhan Bilgin, requested that the statement of the complainant Berke Kırıcı, who sent a petition from Germany, be taken via international rogatory since his address is known. Attorney Bilgin also requested that the image of the found phone be given to them in order to obtain an expert opinion and that the camera recordings regarding the lawyer's guidance of the witness in yesterday's hearing be preserved.

Following these statements, the hearing of witnesses began.

Selçuk Sertçelik, the older brother of Serdar Sertçelik, explained in response to the Court President's questions that they spoke on the phone once a week while Sertçelik was in prison in Hungary, and via Instagram during the period he was in the camp. Noting that the police did not threaten or mistreat him when he was detained in the money laundering investigation, but that Nurullah Özgür Kopuk called him about a week or 10 days before he was detained, Sertçelik said, "He asked where I was in a harsh voice and wanted me to send my location. I asked who he was. He said, 'We will come to the shop' and hung up. Upon this, I did not leave the house, I did not go to the shop."

Selçuk Sertçelik was shown the messages on the found phone. Sertçelik said these did not belong to him. Upon the Court President saying that he accepted these in his prosecutor's statement, Sertçelik stated that the prosecutor did not show the messages and took the statement in a question-and-answer format.

Sertçelik answered the question of Attorney Alperen Ekinci, "Were your digital devices seized when you were detained? If so, when were they returned?" by saying, "They took my mobile phone. It stayed for 1 year. When I got it, it had been reset. There were no messages on WhatsApp at all."

After Selçuk Sertçelik, his father and mother were also heard as witnesses. Both individuals stated in response to the questions of the Court President and the prosecutor that Serdar Sertçelik did not tell them anything when he was released with judicial control and came home, but that his psychology was bad. Mother Sertçelik also explained the following:

"The house had turned into a police station. One police officer was leaving, another was coming. When they entered the living room, they would send me away immediately. On the day he said he would have his dressing done, he said, 'Look downstairs, mom, is there any police?' I looked, there was no car. Yet they were standing there day and night, even in the snow. He would call on the phone while he was in Hungary. We were talking on WhatsApp. We didn't talk on Instagram."

The Court President showed Mother Sertçelik the messages on the found phone and reminded her that she accepted them in her prosecutor's statement. Mother Sertçelik said, "This is the first time I've seen these messages. The prosecutor didn't show them. He only asked for my phone number."

Mother Sertçelik answered the Court President's question, "Did Serdar Sertçelik have any meetings with anyone through you before coming to Turkey?" as follows:

"Yes. He had a meeting, but they didn't talk for long; it lasted 3-4 minutes, they hung up. I think the person he spoke to was Şevket Demircan. We put my phone and my grandchild's phone on top of each other and let them talk. Since Serdar wanted us to go out, I don't know what they talked about."

Upon this, the Court President reacted with the words, "Why are you going out? You are his mother; he has been shot, he is abroad. Don't you wonder what this child is talking about?"

When the prosecutor asked which police officers came to the house, Mother Sertçelik said, "I would recognize them if I saw them. The one who came constantly was Ufuk. There was also a pot-bellied one, he was coming constantly."

During the questions of Şevket Demircan's lawyer, Recep Öksüz, the following dialogues took place:

Attorney Öksüz: What is Şevket's number?

Mother Sertçelik: How would I know?

President: The lawyer probably wants to ask, "Who told you the phone number?"

Mother Sertçelik: Serdar told us, we called.

Attorney Öksüz: If you called, the number is on your phone.

Mother Sertçelik: I can tell you if I look at my phone. I am 62 years old, I can't remember everything.

Serdar Sertçelik also asked the question, "How many minutes could we talk while I was in prison and who could I call?" after saying, "Mom, forgive me, I want to ask you a question." Mother Sertçelik replied, "You could call me and your brother for 10 minutes." Mother Sertçelik also answered her son's question, "Was I calling like this 3 months before coming to Turkey?" by saying, "Yes, he was calling for 10 minutes."

Halil Falyalı… Bribery Incidents

Police officer Mustafa Süvari, who was heard as a witness because he recorded the meeting between Murat Çelik and Attorney Cengiz Haliç, stated that he was working in Çelik's private office during the period when the Bora Kaplan operation was carried out and said the following:

"About a week or 10 days after the operation, my director Murat Çelik said one night that Cengiz Haliç would bring some information and documents and wanted me to be present at the meeting. He came, we sat down. They talked for half an hour. He had come before too. He gave some names, told some events. He talked about a prosecutor named Ahmet, Halil Falyalı, and bribery incidents."

Upon the Court President's questions, Süvari explained whether he knew Cengiz Haliç and why he made the recording as follows:

"I don't know Cengiz Haliç, but he was one of the people known to us. When Director Murat said he would come, I did it with the instinct of securing myself in the future. Director Murat is here today, gone tomorrow.

I recorded it so as not to encounter such an incident again due to my professional experience, the situations I encountered, and the slanders.

Director Murat didn't know I was recording. It remained a secret with me. When I saw that he was the planner and instigator of these things upon the arrival of Serdar Sertçelik, the phone that emerged much later, I wanted to tell Director Murat the content of this conversation and present it to the file."

He Was Also in the Operation

When the Court President began to read the content of that recording, Bora Kaplan's lawyer Rıdvan Şahin stated that this recording was absolutely void, and also that Cengiz Haliç had filed a criminal complaint, and requested that these contents, which have nothing to do with the case, not be read.

When Attorney Şahin reminded him that he should have known that taking this recording was a crime, Mustafa Süvari gave the following reply:

"Let the judge decide that. I recorded not two but three people. I didn't spread the recording, I didn't give it to anyone. I could have opened an anonymous account and published it, I only gave it to the prosecutor. What was I supposed to do, ignore it? I did my duty as a citizen. I know that Cengiz Haliç filed a criminal complaint, it is his right. I would have filed a criminal complaint too."

Attorney Umut Köroğlu also asked Süvari if he had any hostility towards Bora Kaplan. When Süvari said, "Of course, that's impossible," Attorney Köroğlu asked the question, "What were you doing in the operation at Esenboğa?"

Süvari said that when he watched those images from the outside, he also saw it as a show, but the truth of the matter was different, and that he was trying to take the service pistol with a bullet in the chamber from Şevket Demircan so that no injury would occur.

Upon Attorney Baran Tansu's question, "Who took the images at the airport?" Süvari said, "I don't know. I asked too, no one gave a satisfactory answer."

"Is This the Reason for Your Hostility Towards Bora Kaplan?"

Mustafa Süvari also answered Bora Kaplan's questions as follows:

Kaplan: Was a recording made when Cengiz Haliç first came to Murat Çelik?

Süvari: I don't know.

Kaplan: Did you say, "We left because of you 6 years ago, and now we came because of you"?

Süvari: I don't remember. Even if I said it, it binds me, not the Police Department.

Kaplan: Is this the reason for your hostility towards me?

Süvari: Bora, I am not hostile to you. I am a civil servant of the state. I get paid to do my job.

Kaplan: My lawyer Umut Köroğlu was also with me when you were saying these things. Cengiz Haliç is someone with no criminal record, no history, and whose name is not mentioned in the file. How did you know he would talk about the accusations and take a recording? Also, in the recording, Murat Çelik's voice comes from close by, and yours from far away. Could Murat Çelik have taken the recording?

President: Have you listened to the audio recording?

Kaplan: I can't listen to it in prison, my friends told me.

Sertçelik: I listened to it, I told Bora Kaplan. His voice comes from very far away. I wonder if he made a single recording and split it into three, or if he took three separate recordings?

Süvari: The phone was in the middle of the coffee table where we were sitting. It became three pieces because I picked it up from time to time to check messages.

Three Phones Produced

Finally, defendant Önder Polat's lawyer Duran Göçer explained that they produced WhatsApp correspondence on two phones obtained from inside and outside the country, cloned this onto a third phone, and that one of the correspondences on the first two phones turned out to be different, and after stating that despite this, the experts could not determine which one had manipulation, he said, "No digital data is secure. WhatsApp, in particular, is an application that can be tampered with, manipulated, or prepared in another environment and loaded onto a phone. For this reason, we want the found phone to be examined by a very expert witness and for their name to be kept secret so that they are not influenced," and presented the two phones to the court as an example. While the Court President joked, "Did you take their images, let there be no trouble," the prosecutor asked Attorney Göçer various questions about the phones they produced.

Bora Kaplan, who took the floor on the subject, also said the following:

"Give me any phone number; for example, let me have correspondence about the court from 5 years ago, before my arrest. Send this wherever you want, they can't solve it. But God has entangled their feet, they forgot the document where Mustafa Öztaş's name is mentioned."

After the statements were completed, the prosecutor gave an opinion in the direction of rejecting numerous requests, primarily the hearing of Halit Turan from Sabah Newspaper and the hearing of Yüksel Kocaman, Ahmet Yıkılmaz, and Veysel Kaçmaz as witnesses by Attorney Hatice Taştan, while requesting that it be urgently asked to the Hungarian authorities whether Serdar Sertçelik had the opportunity to have internet access and WhatsApp conversations while in prison and in the immigrant camp; that the examination of the found phone by an expert be evaluated after the expert opinion presented by Attorney Duran Göçer is read; and that the detention status of the detained defendants and the judicial control measures of the non-detained defendants be continued.

The court took a 1-hour break for the decision.

The Court President, who announced the decisions at 20.45, announced that it was decided to release defendants Önder Polat, Muhammet Kaplan, Adnan Kaplan, and Erhan Bakioğlu, and to continue the detention of Bora Kaplan and Serdar Sertçelik.

While the court rejected the vast majority of the requests, primarily the hearing of Halit Turan and judicial members as witnesses, it also decided to ask about Serdar Sertçelik's communication opportunities in Hungary and to obtain additional reports from the gendarmerie and police regarding the found phone. While the requests for exemption of the non-detained defendants were accepted, the removal of judicial control measures was rejected.

The hearing was adjourned to June 1.

Muhammet Kaplan and Adnan Kaplan, who were decided to be released, will not be able to leave prison because they are convicted of another crime.

News Source: Müyesser Yıldız