Erdoğan's former legal advisor evaluates the 'trustee' decision: Is the action legal?

Criminal law expert İzzet Özgenç, who was once in the inner circle of AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan and is one of the architects of the Turkish Penal Code that entered into force in 2005, commented on the trustee appointed to Esenyurt.

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Erdoğan's former legal advisor evaluates the 'trustee' decision: Is the action legal?

Prof. İzzet Özgenç, Erdoğan's former legal advisor and one of the two individuals who prepared the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) that entered into force in 2005, reacted to the trustee appointed to Esenyurt.

Özgenç explained that the detained Ahmet Özer did not commit any crime that would constitute membership in a terrorist organization.

Özgenç stated that there is no concrete evidence in the investigation file of the arrested Ahmet Özer that indicates membership in a terrorist organization.

Prof. İzzet Özgenç stated that the decision to appoint a trustee is an abuse of the term 'affiliation' (iltisak). Özgenç expressed the following:

The issues raised in the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's arrest request dated 30.10.2024 regarding the Mayor of Esenyurt (Investigation No: 2024/162302) do not carry the nature that would require the person's responsibility for membership in a terrorist organization.

These statements are an indication of how the term "affiliation," which was introduced into our legislation with the statutory decrees (KHK) issued after the coup attempt of July 15, 2016, is being abused.