Tayfun Kahraman spoke to lawyer Afşin Hatipoğlu

If Tayfun's case is left to Kamagan Derviş!

There is a bookstore just down from my office. Every time I pass by the shop, I take a quick look at the display window. While following my routine that day, a book caught my eye: Ancient Cities. The book discusses exquisite debates such as: What does "City" mean through archaeological sites, how and why was a city founded? How did cities form in the Bronze Age, in Ancient Egypt, in Rome? It suddenly occurred to me, what would it be like if those who read this book walked around Istanbul?

If they reached back to the 7th century BC, saw Kadıköy and the Greek colonies, felt Rome in Balat. If Rome collapsed and they toured the Byzantine hippodrome. If Fatih appeared before them, and they called it the emblem of the Ottomans. If they returned to Aksaray with Suleiman the Magnificent and caught their breath in Beşiktaş with Abdülhamid. If they mourned the mosques, madrasas, inns, and baths that Menderes demolished. While sipping their coffee in Gezi Park to rest, when they say, "What a beautiful patch of greenery remains in this city, which is a history monster," would they know that there are decades of imprisoned life per square meter?

When the calendars turned to May 2013, protests that would change our recent history began in Istanbul's Taksim. The reactions of professional chambers, which were waging a legal struggle against Istanbul's Urban Development Plan, began to become mass-based. In particular, the police's use of violence against the public's sit-in protest rang the "boxing gong" of the social uprising recorded as the "Gezi Events." The flare for these protests, in which millions participated, had been fired by the trials in 2012.

"I wrote the petition for the lawsuit myself to save Gezi Park," said Tayfun Kahraman, whom I visited in Silivri. Tayfun has been a prisoner in Silivri for nearly four years. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a result of the Gezi trials. When I asked him how he felt, he said, "What could I have done other than what my profession and my role as chamber president required?" He is a smiling, talkative, intelligent, and resilient person. Despite all the trouble and worry, I think he looks younger than his age. He has a serious illness (MS) and needs to be under constant observation. However, even this health condition has not affected his execution regime. I had pointed this out when writing about Osman Kavala and Can Atalay regarding their positions and occupations. I will make this emphasis more pronounced for Tayfun. How can someone who is the "President of the Istanbul Chamber of City Planners" not be able to make a legal objection to a plan designed in the center of the city? How can he not strive to explain this idea to the public? How can he not try to create public opinion? The reality that was persistently ignored in the Gezi trials was the professional status of those accused. Is Tayfun Kahraman an auto mechanic, an accountant, a doctor, or a barber?… The man is literally, "A city planner, the president of this profession's chamber," and along with that, "the spokesperson for Taksim Solidarity." When he was just 31 years old, he was also an important member of the delegation that went to meet with the then-Prime Minister Erdoğan.

Tayfun Kahraman describes the events he experienced as follows:

"I am a city planner and a chamber president. It is also our responsibility under the law to express our opinions regarding changes made to the city of Istanbul. When we are elected as chamber president, the authority we receive from our colleagues is given to us to represent both them and the profession. When development plans were made for Gezi Park, we took legal action against these plans in 2012. Our reaction was not unknown to the government. Many developments had already taken place leading up to the events of 2013. However, the administration did not abandon its actions, which we considered unlawful and inconsistent with urban aesthetics. I wrote the lawsuit petition myself. I specified the issue entirely with its technical characteristics. I am also an academic; I am one of those who know best how city plans are made. Instead of addressing the issue on legal grounds, the government attacked the subject disproportionately. By May 2013, the issue had become so prominent that our legal struggle reflected on the public's reaction. I did my best to prevent the events. I even have clear statements in the meeting we had with the Prime Minister as the spokesperson for Taksim Solidarity. The events ended, the issue was removed from the country's agenda, and I returned to my normal life. But six years later, in 2019, we started to be tried. In a way that I do not understand why and how it was ruled, I was sentenced to 18 years. I have been in prison for nearly four years."

I have stated in my previous articles that "Attempting to overthrow the constitutional order!" is a very difficult crime to commit. Is there a weapon or not, is there action within a hierarchical discipline, is there a leader, if so who, what is the target, what are the sources of funding, which events are clear proof that this crime was committed?...

These and similar questions must have also confused the Constitutional Court, as it ruled the following in the Tayfun Kahraman decision dated 31.07.2025:

"That the right to a fair trial was violated due to the fact that a conviction was given without a relevant and sufficient evaluation by the courts regarding the claims and objections affecting the merits."

And it emphasized these essential points in its justification:

"The mere existence of violent incidents that occur during a meeting and demonstration process that has already begun is not sufficient to hold individuals directly responsible unless a causal link is established between their own actions and these violent incidents."

However, we saw with regret this week that the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court did not recognize the Constitutional Court's decision and used this aphoristic expression that has no place in any book: "The AYM (Constitutional Court) is not a super court of appeal; it has committed an usurpation of authority." This expression, which cannot be accepted legally, is also clearly contrary to the constitution. The procedures and principles of the right to individual application are regulated between Articles 148 and 149 of the Constitution and Articles 45 to 51 of the Law on Trial Procedures of the Constitutional Court No. 6216. Furthermore, the "Appeal" mentioned by the 13th High Criminal Court is an ordinary legal remedy, and its addressee for judicial cases is the Court of Cassation. If the Constitutional Court had seen itself as an appellate authority and committed an "usurpation of authority," it would have established its ruling not as a "determination of constitutional rights violation," but with a "reversal" or "approval" provision, addressing the court itself. (In addition, Tayfun's lawyers filed an appeal to the 14th High Criminal Court against this blood-curdling lawlessness. By the time you read this article, a decision may have already been issued.)

Justice must be objective. It is obliged to live odorless and colorless. Why are the eyes of the Themis statue, which has represented justice for centuries, blindfolded? It is to show humanity the cry: "Do not decide by looking at the person, but by looking at the law and equity!" But unfortunately, the understanding of law and justice in our country is constantly updated depending on the period and the person. Selahattin Demirtaş, who was declared a "terrorist" by Devlet Bahçeli until recently, has become a "victim whose European Court of Human Rights decision in his favor must be implemented" as of last week. Well, why can't Osman Kavala, whom the European Court of Human Rights said "You did not try fairly," carry the same victimhood? Is it because it is not his turn politically yet?

You say "A Turkey without terror," but how can you think of creating peace and tranquility here by turning the country into a "Turkey without law"? Tayfun Kahraman, who uses a right clearly recognized in your own current constitution, is found to be in the right by the higher court tasked with protecting the constitution, but the local court rejects the Constitutional Court's decision with expressions that do not take it seriously.

The government does not see the Constitutional Court as belonging to the regime. It does not accept the consequences of the right to individual application. So much so that in the eyes of the regime, the value of a bench judge is far above that of a Constitutional Court member. Bahçeli's desire to close the court and the Court of Cassation's agenda to file a criminal complaint against the court members are the first oddities that come to mind. The worst part is that they don't even care that this situation is leading the country to chaos. It is certain by the ruling of the Constitutional Court that Tayfun Kahraman is being held in Silivri unlawfully. Outside, there are millions waiting with the anxiety of "When will these lawlessnesses find us?" In our country, where sociology has collapsed, which is meeting new generation gangs, living on depression pills, where two hundred thousand couples divorce annually, and where the rule of law index is pointed to symbolically, I assure you that no one, including those involved, knows where they want to reach by not recognizing the law. If Tayfun Kahraman's remedy is not even in the Constitutional Court, then let him go to Kemal Tahir's State Mother (Devlet Ana), let him open his hands to Kamagan Derviş and ask for a prayer;

'' Oh, pillar of the skies, Keşiş Mountain... Oh, you who give us cool breezes... For the rest of the seed that gives snow... For the sprouting of the crops that give rain... You who give milk to our herds, who strengthen our mounts, if you do not protect us, it will not be!''

News Source: 12punto