Fourth judge change in the Bora Kaplan case: 'You can treat me unfairly'

At the ninth hearing of the case, held today by the Ankara 77th Criminal Court of First Instance at the Sincan Prison complex, Bora Kaplan did not attend, citing that his request to be present at the hearing was not fulfilled, while another detained defendant, Fethi Koyuncu, connected via the SEGBİS video conferencing system.

The hearing began with the judge reading the previous minutes due to the change in the presiding judge. The minutes revealed that decisions were made in interim sessions to transition some of the seized companies from management trustees to audit trustees, that travel bans were lifted for some defendants including Bora Kaplan's wife, Nazlı Kaplan, and that the expert panel appointed for the MASAK report requested an extension for the third time, a request the court accepted.

During the hearing, which only 6 of the non-detained defendants attended, statements were taken regarding the documents received by the file. When Barış Kurt, a former AKP Ankara Provincial Deputy Chairman and Çankaya Municipal Council member, pointed out that they were appearing before their fourth judge in less than a year, the judge replied, "You can treat me unfairly, I won't take offense."

"You are saying 'sloppy work was done'"

When Barış Kurt emphasized that he was acquitted of membership in an organization in the main Bora Kaplan criminal organization case and began to describe what he experienced during the investigation process, the judge said the following:

"It has been 21 days since I came to this court. There are 70 folders. Since they are with the experts, I reviewed them from the records. You are saying, 'I am here because sloppy work was done.' I cannot say anything until the expert report is placed before me. Therefore, I want you to speak only about the incoming documents."

Barış Kurt continued his statement as follows:

"I am an academic and a businessman; I have an engineering company that has carried out the most important projects. But a banker trustee was appointed to this company. What does a banker know about engineering? I founded this company in 2013. Bora Kaplan wasn't even in the picture then. The guy was still a kid. What have I bought or sold to Bora Kaplan? My company is completely different from theirs. I know Bora Kaplan. It's not written on his forehead, but I haven't done anything wrong. We can't see the judge we explain our troubles to in the second hearing. The file has been with the experts for a year. Maybe the hearing will be postponed for 3 months, will we see you again? What did I do; did I destroy the unity and integrity of the nation and the state? I am not being granted the right to live. I am in a miserable state. The trustees cannot manage the company. I cannot sell my assets to pay my debts. I apologize for giving you a headache."

During Kurt's statements, the judge asked for the name of his company and the address of his mortgaged land, saying, 'I have taken my note.'

Barış Kurt's lawyer, Bilal Veske, also stated that the measures imposed were unlawful, that the trusteeship system had become a common practice, and that the trustees were managing the companies well, adding the following:

'Appointing a banker to an engineering firm or a lawyer to a doctor's office is like that. Between hearings, the trusteeship of four companies was downgraded to oversight. Why is enemy law being applied to my client? Are we going to make decisions based on the trustee's sleeping hours? Let's close the company; at least we won't have to pay the trustee's salary.'

Defendant Hıncal Alper Tansu explained that he has been involved in trade since 2002 and that his only connection to Bora Kaplan was purchasing the Güney Restaurant from him. He noted that the trustee appointed to the restaurant had been downgraded from management to oversight and requested the lifting of his travel ban.

Tansu's lawyer, Muhammet Güney, reminded the court that a charge of an armed terrorist organization is required for TMSF trusteeship and therefore requested that the trusteeship over his client's companies be lifted.

Defendant Ozan Can Yıldız stated that although he was not a defendant in the main Bora Kaplan case, he had spent 8 months in prison and 4 months under house arrest in this case, and spoke as follows:

'I am a geological engineer. I own 50 percent of a company with 450 employees. A measure was placed on this company, and a trustee was appointed. We are being tried for money laundering, but the entire cycle in the company continues exactly as before. What has changed is this: we closed 4 factories, said goodbye to 250 employees, and we do everything through the trustee. I am a green passport holder, I own a weapon, and I am a businessman. What public benefit is there in me not being able to use a credit card, not being able to give consent for my children, or not being able to pay their alimony? Something happened to us. We are faithful, nationalist people. We are patient, but we also need to live. They had already said they would finish us off when they took us in. Here is our situation: the trustee was doing all notary transactions with a notary near the TMSF. One day, they called us to a notary in Sincan. When the notary saw the measures on me, he said, 'You cannot perform this transaction.' From there, we came to a notary in Tunalı and completed the sale.'

Betül Koyuncu, the sister of detained defendant Fethi Koyuncu, stated that she could not pay her debts and could not provide for her family, and then requested the removal of the measure placed on her vehicle. Her lawyer, Ahmet Hoca, also claimed that his client was being tried only because of her brother, and reported that in addition to Betül Koyuncu's vehicle, which was purchased 10 years ago, the vehicle her other sibling had purchased with a disability report had also been seized.

Fethi Koyuncu stated, 'My sister could not explain her situation. She bought that vehicle 10 years ago, and the other vehicle was bought 15 years ago. There is nothing that requires me to be detained in this file. I do not want much; I want equal justice.' Reminding the court that the maximum detention period for crimes not covered by heavy penal jurisdiction is 18 months, Koyuncu's lawyer, Uğur Ulutaş, noted that Fethi Koyuncu is already detained in the main Bora Kaplan case and that his detention in this specific case has exceeded 20 months. He argued that the letter sent by the prison stating 'execution has not begun' is entirely an attempt to circumvent the law.

Bora Kaplan's lawyers, Yunus Emre Bulutgöçer and İbrahim Öner, stated that an arrest cannot be made based on a MASAK report and that this file has been stalled for 18-20 months waiting for the expert report alongside the MASAK report. They requested that Kaplan, whose maximum detention period has expired, be released and brought to the courtroom for the next hearing.

Other defendants and their lawyers also requested the lifting of international judicial control measures and the seizure of their personal assets, permission to sell these assets to pay off their debts, and the termination of the trusteeship application.

Following the completion of the statements, the prosecutor submitted an opinion requesting the continuation of the detention of Bora Kaplan and Fethi Koyuncu, and that the requests of the defendants and their lawyers regarding the lifting of judicial control measures and other demands be evaluated after the expert report is received.

A Strange Break in the Hearing

The following occurred after the prosecutor's opinion:

The judge stated that he would take statements from anyone wishing to respond to the opinion, otherwise he would adjourn the hearing for a decision. As there were no statements, he adjourned the hearing for approximately 1.5 hours.

However, when he reopened the hearing at 3:00 PM, he announced that he would take statements against the opinion again before adjourning for a decision, telling the lawyers, 'Leave your contact numbers; if you wish to come, we will wait. For example, about 1.5 hours.'

After a two-hour break, the judge told the lawyers "off the record": "I have scheduled the hearing for a near date. We set it for November to ensure it proceeds quickly. If the expert report arrives, it would be good if you prepare your statements promptly. The reason I am pushing is to move the case forward as soon as possible," before announcing the interim decisions.

Permission for Land Sale for Bora Kaplan

The judge announced that the detention of Bora Kaplan and Fethi Koyuncu would continue, that the mortgage on one of Kaplan's plots of land would be lifted, and that a letter would be written to the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) for the sale of Barış Kurt's real estate. Stating that all other requests were denied, the judge adjourned the hearing to November 17.

Müyesser YILDIZ

September 23, 2025

News Source: 12punto