AKP figures also react to Fatih Altaylı ruling! 'Visiting the terrorist leader and...'

Journalist Fatih Altaylı, who was arrested on June 22 on charges of 'threatening the president' after being targeted by Oktay Saral, chief advisor to AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, appeared in court for the second time yesterday.

During the hearing held at the Silivri Prison courtroom, Altaylı presented his defense and requested his acquittal. The court sentenced Altaylı to 4 years and 2 months in prison and ruled for his continued detention.

While the opposition front reacted harshly to the decision against Altaylı, reactions also rose from the AKP wing.

Mücahit Birinci, who resigned from the AKP, stated in a post on his X account, "Detention is a precautionary measure. If there is no suspicion of flight, if evidence has been collected, and considering the time the defendant has already spent in custody in relation to the upper limit of the sentence, the principle is to decide on the defendant's release."

In the continuation of his post, Birinci recalled the meetings with terrorist leader Abdullah Öcalan and said, "In these days when we talk about social reconciliation more frequently, visiting the terrorist leader on one hand while insisting on certain unlawful arrests on the other harms this consensus."

The full text of Birinci's post is as follows:

Detention is a precautionary measure. If there is no suspicion of flight, if evidence has been collected, and considering the time the defendant has already spent in custody in relation to the upper limit of the sentence, the principle is to decide on the defendant's release.

We lawyers constantly repeat this point.

There is no need for the defendant's name; today it is Fatih, Furkan, tomorrow it will be Ahmet, Mehmet...

I always express this principled stance with consistency. Whether the defendant is an opponent or not, these things have no importance before the judiciary.

Detention is not a method of disciplining, pulling ears, or punishing. It is a technical matter, bound by a discipline.

In these days when we talk about social reconciliation more frequently, visiting the terrorist leader on one hand while insisting on certain unlawful arrests on the other harms this consensus.

Another AKP figure who reacted to the decision was Şamil Tayyar. Recalling the detention of Hüseyin Kocabıyık and AKP troll Furkan Bölükbaşı, Tayyar argued that keeping these individuals in prison on suspicion of flight would also cast a shadow over the İmralı negotiations being conducted with the terrorist leader.

Şamil Tayyar's statement is as follows:

'The project for a Turkey without terror, I believe, is not aimed solely at ending PKK terrorism.

Drying up the swamp that produces or feeds terror and eliminating areas of exploitation are also parts of the process.

In this context, closing the democracy deficit and expanding the scope of fundamental rights and freedoms are important.

In short, there is a need for a comprehensive internal consolidation, to multiply the reasons for living together, and to strengthen the environment of peace.

While negotiations are being held with İmralı on one hand, throwing well-known names like Hüseyin Kocabıyık, Fatih Altaylı, and Furkan Bölükbaşı into prison on suspicion of 'flight' instead of trying them without arrest casts a shadow over the big picture we described above.

Since a new beginning is being made, it is necessary to touch every aspect of life.'