06.10.2025 11:22
The Ankara Regional Court of Appeals has decided to consolidate two separate cases related to the murder of Sinan Ateş and to conduct the trial at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court. The cases were merged on the grounds that there is a connection between the defendants involved in the murder and the defendants related to the acquisition of personal data.
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The main trial regarding the murder of Sinan Ateş, the President of the Former Ülkü Ocakları Education and Culture Foundation, who was killed in a gun attack in Ankara Çankaya on December 30, 2022, was held at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court. The hitman Eray Özyağcı, motorcycle driver Vedat Balkaya, and Suat Kurt, who conducted an inspection at the crime scene, were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for the crime of 'intentional murder with premeditation.' Doğukan Çep and Tolgahan Demirbaş were also sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for 'instigating intentional murder with premeditation.' Five defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 2 to 18 years, while an acquittal decision was made for 10 defendants, and the files of 2 defendants were separated.
SEPARATE CASE FOR 8 DEFENDANTS
Additionally, a case was opened at the Ankara 34th Criminal Court of First Instance against 8 defendants, including Burak Kılıç, the then Deputy Chairman of Ülkü Ocakları, who was accused of obtaining some information about Sinan Ateş before his murder and helping to conceal those involved in the incident after the murder; Suat Yılmazzobu, the Deputy Chairman of Ülkü Ocakları Ankara Provincial Organization; former Chairman of Çubuk Ülkü Ocakları Gürsel Horat; and Commissioner Talha Atalay, who was suspended from duty at the Traffic Branch of the Ankara Police Department. The indictment requested that Burak Kılıç, Gürsel Horat, and Suat Yılmazzobu be punished for the crime of 'illegally obtaining or disseminating personal data,' while it requested that Commissioner Talha Atalay be punished for 'illegally obtaining or disseminating personal data as a public official.' The defendants Fatih Küçükerturan, Gökhan Türkmen, Recep Küçükerturan, and Yunus Hasar were also requested to be punished for 'harboring a criminal.'
In the second hearing of the case held on July 1 at the Ankara 34th Criminal Court of First Instance, the court decided to merge the case with the trial of Mustafa Ensar Aykal and Serdar Öktem, whose files were separated from the main case involving 22 defendants related to the murder of Sinan Ateş. The court ruled that the file should be sent to the 5th Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice to evaluate whether the merger decision was appropriate.
LEGAL AND ACTUAL CONNECTION FOUND BETWEEN FILES
The 5th Criminal Chamber of the Ankara Regional Court of Justice examined the file and made a decision. In its ruling, the court stated that there was a personal, legal, and actual connection between the two court files based on the nature of the charges against the defendants, the way events were described in the indictments, and the dates of the crimes. The Chamber concluded that it was necessary to conduct the cases together and decided to merge the relevant file of the Ankara 34th Criminal Court of First Instance with the relevant file of the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court. Additionally, it lifted the interim decision of the 32nd High Criminal Court regarding not consenting to the merger at the hearing on June 26, 2025, and ruled that the trial of the defendants should be conducted through the relevant file of the 32nd High Criminal Court.
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