07.04.2026 21:37
In the ongoing first hearing of the retrial of the Ayhan Bora Kaplan criminal organization, Kaplan stated that he would not make a defense due to the lack of access to the digital materials in the combined file. Kaplan said, "How can we defend ourselves on documents we do not have? If evidence is concealed from us, where is the principle of equality of arms? We only want justice. We need to receive the digital materials. We cannot make a defense without accessing them."
Ayhan Bora Kaplan (ABK) is on trial in a case involving 61 defendants, 17 of whom are in custody, following the annulment of some sentences in the appeal process. The first hearing of the case, which is related to the combined files of the police officers who conducted the operation, Kaplan's lawyers, and the confidential witness codenamed Serdar Sertçelik, is ongoing.
AYHAN BORA KAPLAN CRIME ORGANIZATION CASE CONTINUES
In the hearing held at the Sincan Prison Campus by the Ankara 32nd Heavy Penal Court, the detained defendants, including Ayhan Bora Kaplan, were present.
The complainant defendants, former Organized Crime Fighting Director Şevket Demircan, former Deputy Chief of Ankara Police Department Murat Çelik, police officers Metehan İlkyaz, Gökhan Karaca, and Ufuk Gültekin were present in the courtroom. Former KOM Branch Manager Kerem Gökay Öner also participated in the hearing via SEGBİS.
After the court panel entered the room, Bora Kaplan took the floor and said, "Sir, there is a man in a gray suit at the back, he is constantly provoking." The President of the Court responded, "I will make the necessary warnings."
SERTÇELİK: I MET AYHAN BORA KAPLAN IN 2016
The hearing continued with Serdar Sertçelik's defense. Sertçelik stated that he had said during the police process regarding the incident involving Erkan Doğan, who was allegedly kidnapped and tortured by the ABK crime organization, that he did not know anything. He quoted a police officer named Resul as saying, "Leave the Erkan Doğan incident to me. I will set it up myself."
Sertçelik claimed that he was not a leader of the organization and said, "Sercan Keleş has been my friend since 2015. I met Ayhan Bora Kaplan in 2016 by going to Albüm. At first, we were not close. In 2018, he sold Albüm, and when he opened Elmacı Markets, we started doing business. We have been friends since 2018. Then I also opened a place. He was coming there too. When I was in Cyprus, I spoke with Murat Çelik, but I did not record it. I did not publish any recordings related to Cyprus. I recorded the first one in Greece. There was no arrest. When I met Murat Çelik in Cyprus, he said, 'There is nothing for you in the file, you have been abroad for a long time anyway.'
"I WAS THREATENED WITH MY FAMILY"
After Sertçelik's defense was completed, cross-examination began. When the President of the Court asked, "You said you experienced humiliating torture yesterday. Did you tell your lawyer about the torture you said you experienced in prison?" Sertçelik replied, "If I had said this, I would have faced double the treatment. At that time, I had no situation to complain. I was threatened with my family. I was not in a psychological state to seek my rights."
Sertçelik stated that he would not defend himself regarding the combined file at this time, saying, "We did not have time; we have not looked at it yet." In response, the President of the Court asked, "Since you came from abroad, you were the first to hear about this file. How could you not prepare?" Sertçelik's lawyer also took the floor and replied, "We could not obtain a photocopy of the file; we have an application regarding this."
When Nurullah Özgür Kopuk's lawyer asked, "How do you know my client?" Sertçelik said, "I do not want to answer any questions from the police officers and lawyers mentioned in this file."
“THEY WERE ALWAYS TRYING TO TRIP ME UP”
The President of the Court read the recordings of the phone conversations between Serdar Sertçelik and Şevket Demircan. Sertçelik stated, "I do not know what Yüksel Kocaman has against them. There are messages among themselves indicating that they are tracking Yüksel Kocaman's financial movements. They wanted me to come up with something. They were always trying to find something, trying to trip me up. I say I do not know Ahmet Yıkılmaz, but they ask me, 'How can you not know him?' They constantly wanted me to write a scenario."
Sertçelik also spoke about the messages exchanged with Şevket Demircan while the ABK case was ongoing; "It is proof of how they set up a trap and maintained the perception through the media. They have reached such a point that they talk to the president and even know the outcome of the court."
After the questions directed at Serdar Sertçelik concluded, the defense regarding the combined file would be made in future sessions, and the defense of the other defendants was proceeded with.
KAPLAN: HOW WILL WE DEFEND OURSELVES ON DOCUMENTS WE DO NOT HAVE?
Ayhan Bora Kaplan announced that he would not defend himself. Kaplan said, "I want it to be recorded why I will not defend myself. My lawyers want to obtain a photocopy of the file, but they say, 'Get it from another lawyer.' Shouldn't this be communicated to my lawyers? How will we work this way? How will we defend ourselves on documents we do not have? The digital materials in this file are important for us because there may be messages among the police regarding torture within those digital materials. But if you say, 'I do not care, we will punish you,' then so be it. If evidence is hidden from us, where is the principle of equality of arms? We only want justice. Are only people against us listened to? Why are those in our favor never listened to? We need to obtain the digital materials. We cannot defend ourselves without accessing them. As long as I have the opportunity to work on it," he said.
“ÖNDER POLAT: THESE MESSAGES ARE COMPLETELY IMAGINARY”
After Kaplan, the former police officer Önder Polat, who is accused of being a member of the organization and of communicating with Serdar Sertçelik for the purpose of obtaining unjust benefits, was given the floor. Polat stated, "A phone appeared, and it was said that I had messages. These messages do not belong to me. When the operation was carried out, I was on leave; I was already recovering from surgery. I have no relationship with Cengiz Haliç. We just greeted each other at an iftar dinner once, and he could not get me out of there. These messages are completely imaginary. If I am that bad, why has Serdar Sertçelik never mentioned my name in any of the videos? Also, I do not even have Ayhan Bora Kaplan's number. How am I becoming a member of this organization?" he defended.
On the other hand, following Sertçelik's defense in court yesterday, he claimed that "Murat Çelik called T24, which is a favorite of FETÖ and publishes against the government and state, to the airport operation, not the state's TRT or agency." T24 made a statement regarding this.
In the statement made by T24, it was said, "The claim that T24, which is the medium that published the first major traps of the FETÖ organization in Turkey, including the files of İlhan Cihaner and Van 100th Year University, was called to the airport for the mentioned operation and that the footage was recorded by a T24 reporter is not true. T24 fulfilled its journalistic duty by reaching and publishing the camera recordings related to the operation. The footage related to the operation includes the moment Ayhan Bora Kaplan's vehicle was stopped and detained by the police at the airport," it was stated.
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