Release of Resul Emrah Şahan requested! 'If there is no organization, there is no crime of aiding'

Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, who was detained as part of corruption and terrorism investigations launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), was arrested and sent to prison on March 23.

Following his arrest on terrorism charges, Şahan was removed from office, and a trustee was appointed to the Şişli Municipality.

In the new reconciliation process dubbed 'Terror-Free Turkey', of which MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli is the architect, it was announced that the terrorist organization PKK had dissolved itself and would lay down its arms.

Şahan’s lawyers stated that their client is being held in custody unlawfully and filed a request for release with the Istanbul Duty Criminal Court of Peace. The petition recalled the PKK's decision to dissolve itself, stating: "With the organization having dissolved itself, the legal and factual existence of the structure that forms the basis of the accusation has ended; thus, the material basis of the charge has disappeared. Continuing the detention measure on the grounds of aiding a non-existent organization shows that the investigation is being conducted not for the purpose of researching the material truth, but solely for the purpose of punishment." 

Stating that none of the defense attorneys were notified for detention reviews, including previous ones, and that this is contrary to both the law and human rights, the petition added: “We were not informed of the hearings regarding the detention review, and thus we were not able to attend the hearings. However, this attitude is clearly against the law.” 

The petition, which also cited Constitutional Court rulings, stated that not hearing lawyers during a detention review constitutes a violation of the right to defense. 

"NO CONCRETE EVIDENCE"

In the release request, it was noted that the issues cited as the basis for the “aiding a terrorist organization” charge against Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan are far from establishing a “strong suspicion of crime,” and the following statements were made:

“In the arrest warrant... the issue put forward as ‘it was determined that the suspects had communications with individuals who have criminal records for terrorism-related crimes...’ has been subjected to subjective and speculative interpretations. It is extremely clear that this claim cannot be used as a basis for an accusation of aiding an organization and that a strong suspicion based on concrete evidence cannot be mentioned.” 

"'CITY CONSENSUS' CLAIM IS BASELESS"

The petition also stated that the meaning the prosecutor's office attributes to the concept of “City Consensus” is based on assumptions, and that there is an effort to criminalize the “Turkey Alliance” applied during the elections through the investigation process: 

“Not only has there been no direct or indirect evidence, or even a sign, that the ‘Turkey Alliance’ model, which was successfully implemented by the CHP in the elections, is in the nature of an implementation of a decision taken by the PKK/KCK in this direction... but there is also no clear, definitive, and convincing matter supporting this claim.” 

Regarding the HTS records in the file, the petition also addressed the conversations Şahan had with the other suspect in the file, Azad Barış, stating they were contentless, short-term, and specific to the period: 

“It was seen that it was claimed that he had phone conversations with Azad Barış a total of 17 times between 03.12.2019 and 22.03.2020, with a total duration of 710 seconds... It is understood that the conversations do not even amount to 1 minute per call.” 

"CRIME OF AIDING HAS DISAPPEARED"

In another section of the release request that draws attention, it was emphasized that the terrorist organization PKK/KCK ended its organizational activities on May 12, 2025, and it was stated: “With the organization having dissolved itself, the legal and factual existence of the structure that forms the basis of the accusation has ended; thus, the material basis of the charge has disappeared. Continuing the detention measure on the grounds of aiding a non-existent organization shows that the investigation is being conducted not for the purpose of researching the material truth, but solely for the purpose of punishment.” 

In the petition signed by lawyers Hüseyin Ersöz and Enes Hikmet Ermaner, it was stated that Resul Emrah Şahan’s detention has no legal basis, and it was requested that “a decision be made for his release without imposing any judicial control measures, or by imposing one or more of the judicial control measures provided for in Article 109/3 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CMK).” 

News Source: 12punto