The person who sent the footage of Sinan Ateş's home also couldn't remember why: He doesn't even remember filming it himself

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Burak Kılıç, the former deputy chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları (Idealist Hearths) who sent footage of the residential complex where former Ülkü Ocakları President Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinan Ateş—who was murdered in the middle of Ankara on December 30, 2022—lived to Tolgahan Demirbaş, one of the Ülkü Ocakları executives, did not remember whether he had filmed it himself or why he had sent it to Demirbaş.

Sinan Ateş's wife Ayşe Ateş, his sisters Selma Ateş Kazancı and Sevda Ateş Yörükoğlu, and the lawyers for the parties attended the second session of the trial held at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court today, while only dismissed police officer Talha Atalay and the former Ankara Ülkü Ocakları Deputy President Suat Yılmazzobu were present in the courtroom among the defendants. Some other defendants testified by connecting via SEGBİS (Audio and Video Information System).

Burak Kılıç, the former Deputy Chairman of the Ülkü Ocakları and current İzmir Ülkü Ocakları President, who had not attended the hearings for a long time, was the first to be heard at the hearing, which was also observed by Milli Yol Party Chairman Remzi Çayır and Zafer Party Deputy Chairman Fatih Eryılmaz, a retired police chief and veteran of the July 15 coup attempt.

While Kılıç merely stated, "I reject the accusations against me. I repeat my previous statements exactly as they were," he said in response to questions from the Presiding Judge that he knew Tolgahan Demirbaş because they were in the same community, and that he did not remember why he sent the footage of the complex where Sinan Ateş lived, whether anyone had requested it, or even whether he had filmed it himself, suggesting he might have found it on social media and sent it. Noting that he did not know that the complex was where Sinan Ateş lived and that he learned this from the prosecutor conducting the investigation, Kılıç answered other questions from the Presiding Judge and the Ateş family's lawyer, Fatih Güneş, as follows:

Presiding Judge: You said you might have seen it on social media and sent it. Why are you sending footage of this complex, where it is not clear who lives?

Kılıç: If you had asked me this in April 2022, I would have answered, but I cannot explain it after 4 years have passed.

Presiding Judge: Who is the S.A. mentioned in the correspondence?

Kılıç: I don't know.

Presiding Judge: Did you know Sinan Ateş? Did you have any hostility toward each other?

Kılıç: I knew him as the President of the Ülkü Ocakları, but we were not personally acquainted. I had no hostility toward him.

Presiding Judge: In your previous statement, you mentioned a banner being hung in front of his house.

Kılıç: That was just an answer I gave by reasoning.

Presiding Judge: Did the banner-hanging incident happen?

Kılıç: I don't know.

Lawyer Fatih Güneş: Did he meet with Tolgahan Demirbaş on December 30, 2022?

Kılıç: It must have happened. We are people of the same community. We have met every day, not just on December 30.

Presiding Judge: Who could the S.A. mentioned in the correspondence be?

Kılıç: It could be anyone whose first name starts with S and last name with A.

Presiding Judge: We also say it could be anyone. Who could it be in your circle?

Kılıç: I don't know.

Following this interrogation, Burak Kılıç's lawyers stated that the digital evidence of Tolgahan Demirbaş did not qualify as evidence because it was obtained unlawfully, and requested that the judicial control measure, which has been ongoing for a long time and negatively affects his professional life, be lifted and that an acquittal decision be rendered.

"His Mental Health is Sound"

Recep Küçükerturan, who was accused of hiding the assassin Eray Özyağcı in Sapanca and whose statement was taken during the continuation of the hearing, stated that he did not know Özyağcı at all, then added, "I know him by name because we lived in the same neighborhood."

Explaining that he was in Istanbul on the day of the incident and later picked up his brother and went to Sapanca, Küçükerturan described his cousin Cihangir Yavuz's statement that he saw Eray Özyağcı with him as a "cold joke," explaining that Yavuz was not mentally sound, was exempt from military service, suffered from high blood sugar and blood pressure, and also worked with chemical paint.

His lawyer also argued that they had submitted records showing that Küçükerturan and Eray Özyağcı were in Sapanca at different times, but that the prosecutor did not include this in the indictment, and further claimed that Cihangir Yavuz's statement was not taken in accordance with the procedure, that only Eray Özyağcı's photograph was shown during the identification, and that he was practically told to say this, requesting that Cihangir Yavuz's statement be retaken and that he be referred to the Forensic Medicine Institute after being heard.

Gökhan Türkmen, the manager of the hotel where the mastermind of the assassination, Doğukan Çep, was captured, said that Çep checked into the hotel with a fake ID, that they had no way of knowing whether the ID was fake, and that he was not at the hotel that day.

Dismissed police officer Talha Atalay, one of the defendants, stated that he still did not understand why he was being tried in a high criminal court, while Suat Yılmazzobu's lawyer requested that the investigating prosecutor, Ayhan Ay, be heard as a witness.

Aziz Bingöl, the lawyer for former Ankara Murder Bureau Chief Mustafa Ensar Aykal, who did not attend the hearing, pointed out that only Doğukan Çep's HTS records were missing from this important file, and requested that the HTS records be brought and that Çep's phone be sent to the USA.

The lawyers for the late Serdar Öktem reiterated their request for a dismissal decision, reminding the court, "Unless it was a clerical error, it was decided in the last session that the judicial control measure would continue." The Presiding Judge replied, "There is no other possibility anyway."

"They Might Kill Me Tomorrow Too"

Following the defendants and their lawyers, the statements of the Ateş family and their lawyers were taken.

Sinan Ateş's wife, Ayşe Ateş, merely said, "I just want the law to be applied. I have no other request," while his sister Sevda Ateş Yörükoğlu said, "I want justice to remind them of what they don't remember. I am sure every millisecond is in their minds." Sinan Ateş's other sister, Selma Ateş Kazancı, said the following:

"Burak Kılıç doesn't remember anything after April. He might not remember because he was given the İzmir Ülkü Ocakları Presidency as a gift. He will remember when his duty ends. How many S.A.s are there in the Ülkü Ocakları? This case will not progress unless Olcay Kılavuz, Semih Yalçın, Ulvi İzzet Yönter, and Ahmet Yiğit Yıldırım are taken in. My mother is not here because she is lying sick, because of these people. I want the MHP and the Ülkü Ocakları criminal organization to be included in this case. Otherwise, many people will be hurt. They might kill me tomorrow too."

The lawyers for the Ateş family made the following statements and requests in summary:

Lawyer Hüseyin Kaya:"The murder of the leader of the Idealists, a president, is the collapse of that community."

Lawyer Şeyda Şahin: "The defendants' statements are aimed at saving themselves. Even if his mental health is not sound, Cihangir Yavuz should be heard. The defendants are in the position of accomplices. Therefore, we request their arrest."

Lawyer Onur Altıntaş:"The person who rented the motorcycle and the one who has the farm were tried in the main case. These people are being tried for obtaining personal data."

Lawyer Fatih Güneş:"Additional statements should be taken from the defendants for aiding in the murder."

Lawyer Süleyman Kavak: "This is a planned murder with its before and after. It cannot be evaluated as just obtaining personal data. Their additional defenses should be taken for aiding."

After the statements were completed, the Prosecutor, who presented his opinion, requested that all requests be rejected, that the judicial control measures of the defendants continue, that Cihangir Yavuz be heard in the next session, and that the judicial control measure regarding Serdar Öktem be lifted and his file be separated.

The Court, which rejected all requests, decided to lift the judicial control measure of only one of the defendants, Yunus Hasar, and to separate Serdar Öktem's file and evaluate it on that file, and adjourned the hearing to June 24.

News Source: 12punto