Court to try police officers who conducted the Bora Kaplan operation is being sought: No agreement reached

Following the confirmation of the verdicts on July 7 by the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice in the 61-defendant case, which was heard at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court and concluded on December 3, 2024, the first development was as follows:

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office of the Regional Court of Justice objected to the confirmation decision for various reasons. Upon this disagreement between the 1st Criminal Chamber and the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the Board of Presidents of the Criminal Chambers, which took up the file, accepted some of the Prosecutor's Office's objections on October 21 and decided to merge the case in which the police officers who conducted the Bora Kaplan operation are being tried with the main file. The reasoning for this decision, which was taken by majority vote, stated:

“Since it is understood that the investigation into the public officials being tried regarding the manner in which the witnesses, who were shown as the basis for the verdict and later recanted their statements given as secret witnesses after being exposed, were procured, whether these witnesses were heard in accordance with the procedure, whether they were directed, and whether the release of the witnesses who were also perpetrators of the crime was in accordance with the law, will be effective in the outcome regarding whether the statements of those whose statements were taken as secret witnesses should be taken as the basis for the verdict, it is concluded that the status of the file at the Ankara 13th Criminal Court of First Instance should be investigated, and if that file has been concluded, the documents in said file should be brought into the current file, and if not, it should be evaluated whether it should be merged; in this context, the objection of the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is accepted...”

HIGH CRIMINAL COURT ALSO DECLARED "LACK OF JURISDICTION"

The case, which the Board of Presidents decided to merge with the Bora Kaplan case, involved 11 defendants, including 6 police officers who conducted the Kaplan operation, who were being tried on charges of negligence in the escape of Serdar Sertçelik, codenamed M7, who was both a secret witness and a defendant in the case; this case was being heard at the Ankara 13th Criminal Court of First Instance.

However, after three hearings, the Court issued a "lack of jurisdiction" decision at the fourth hearing held on September 17 and sent the file to the 33rd High Criminal Court.

Three days ago, the 33rd High Criminal Court also issued a "counter-lack of jurisdiction" decision and ruled that the file be sent to the 5th Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice for the resolution of this jurisdictional dispute.

Müyesser YILDIZ

November 13, 2025

News Source: 12punto