08.01.2026 20:02
In the case where a total of 10 defendants separated from the main file are being tried in the murder of Sinan Ateş, the former president of the Ülkü Ocakları Education and Culture Foundation, the requests for the removal of the defendants' judicial controls were rejected, and the hearing was postponed.
The main trial regarding the murder of Sinan Ateş, the President of the Old Idealist Hearths Education and Culture Foundation, who was killed in an armed attack in Ankara Çankaya on December 30, 2022, was held at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court. The shooter Eray Özyağcı, motorcycle driver Vedat Balkaya, and Suat Kurt, who conducted a reconnaissance at the crime scene, were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for the crime of 'premeditated murder'. Doğukan Çep and Tolgahan Demirbaş were also sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for 'instigating premeditated murder'. 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.
8 DEFENDANTS APPEARED BEFORE THE JUDGE
Meanwhile, a case was opened at the Ankara 34th Criminal Court against 8 defendants, including Burak Kılıç, the then Deputy Chairman of the Idealist Hearths, Suat Yılmazzobu, the Deputy Chairman of the Idealist Hearths Ankara Provincial Organization, former Çubuk Idealist Hearths President Gürsel Horat, and Commissioner Talha Atalay, who was suspended from duty at the Ankara Police Department Traffic Branch, for allegedly obtaining information about Sinan Ateş before his murder and helping to conceal those involved in the incident after the murder. In the second hearing of the case held on July 1, the court decided to merge the case with the one involving Mustafa Ensar Aykal and Serdar Öktem, whose files were separated in the main case with 22 defendants.
"I HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE INCIDENT"
In the hearing held today at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court, the defendants who were not in custody, Suat Yılmazzobu, Mustafa Ensar Aykal, Talha Atalay, and Yunus Hasar, along with Sinan Ateş's wife Ayşe Ateş, his mother Saniye Ateş, his sister Selma Ateş, and the lawyers of the parties attended. During the hearing, Yunus Hasar, who is being tried for 'harboring a criminal' for allegedly hiding Suat Kurt, who is a convicted witness in the main case, stated, "I have no knowledge of this incident in any way. I know Suat through a friend of my family. He wanted to stay at my house because he needed it. I went to the hotel with my girlfriend. He stayed at my house."
"I DO NOT REMEMBER QUESTIONING THE INFORMATION"
Defendant Suat Yılmazzobu stated in his defense that he did not accept the accusations against him, saying, "I do not remember questioning the address information at the request of Tolgahan Demirbaş." When the court president stated that the messages containing Sinan Ateş's address information had been identified and asked where he found this information, defendant Yılmazzobu replied, "I don't know."
Defendant former commissioner Talha Atalay, who is being tried for allegedly sending a note to Tolgahan Demirbaş after the incident, said, "I sent a message that was circulating on social media, shared in a friends' WhatsApp group, saying 'this is how the incident happened, I guess.' It was something normal between two friends. Since our mutual friends are in the same community, Sinan Ateş's death was an important event. The topic came up, and I sent this note because of my relationship with him. This note is not an information note shared within the Police."
Former Homicide Bureau Chief defendant Mustafa Ensar Aykal requested the lifting of the judicial control measure.
"WHY WAS THE TRIAL NOT CONDUCTED UNDER ORGANIZED CRIME?"
Ayşe Ateş, the wife of Sinan Ateş, stated, "In the trial conducted so far regarding Sinan's murder, 2 special operations police officers, members of a gang, and 2 individuals who proudly declared their political identity in front of your high court have been convicted. To date, questions such as why Sinan was murdered and which dark power brought these 3 different groups together have not yet been answered. However, your high council had deemed it appropriate to establish the connection between all of them and impose the heaviest penalties. Here, the question that all those with a conscience are seeking an answer to is: why was the trial not conducted under organized crime, despite so many criminals coming together? I believe that all these questions will also be answered as a result of the trial your high council will conduct."
REQUEST DENIED, HEARING ADJOURNED
After the lawyers' statements, the court announced its interim decision, rejecting the defendants' requests to be exempted from the hearing, ordering the witness Yavuz Cihangir to be heard, providing copies of the relevant expert reports to the requesting parties, rejecting the requests for the lifting of judicial control, and continuing the judicial control measures applied to the defendants. The hearing was adjourned to March 4.