28.12.2024 18:02
The third day of the second hearing of the trial regarding the murder of Narin Güran, who was killed in Diyarbakır, continued with the defense of her mother, Yüksel Güran. The presiding judge stated that the decision would be announced this evening.
In the rural Tavşantepe neighborhood of the central Bağlar district in Diyarbakır, the second hearing of the murder case of 8-year-old Narin Güran, whose body was found in Eğertutmaz Stream 19 days after she went missing on August 21, continues on its third day. The detained defendants, mother Yüksel Güran, brother Enes Güran, uncle Salim Güran, and neighbor Nevzat Bahtiyar, are being tried for "intentional murder of a child in participation" with a request for aggravated life imprisonment.
THE COURT WILL ANNOUNCE ITS DECISION THIS EVENING
On the third day, mother Yüksel Güran made her final defense. While the defendants' lawyers were making their statements in court, the presiding judge answered a question that was on everyone's mind. The judge stated that the decision would be announced tonight. The hearing was adjourned until 21:00, and the decision is expected to be announced at that time.
MOTHER YÜKSEL GÜRAN MADE A DEFENSE
During the third day's hearing, the last lawyer of the detained defendant Enes Güran, Mustafa Demir, made his defense. It was later observed that mother Yüksel Güran chose to wear a black outfit during her defense.
Yüksel Güran: I was brought to the courtroom on the first day, and a mother here said to me, 'My condolences,' which made me very happy. Because no one had the chance to say that to me. I am a mother. Just now, someone in the hall sighed and said, 'I am so bored.' Why are you here? I will tell my life story. On the day I got married, Arif and I promised each other that we would never lie to each other. I gave birth to 7 children from him. Arif raised us with his hard work. They even blamed me for my daughter Tülin's death. If Tülin had not passed away at Dağkapı Hospital, they would have even opened Tülin's grave. Everyone knew that Tülin had a report. They said, 'You even threw Tülin down the stairs.' My daughter was disabled; she couldn't speak. In the end, they told me in custody, 'We will go to Dağkapı Hospital; if she doesn't pass away there, your life is over.' My child passed away 17 years ago.
"I HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN MY DAUGHTER'S GRAVE"
Yüksel Güran: (Describing the day Narin went missing) All the children were sleeping on the roof. It was my happiest day. I picked tomatoes from the garden. I prepared a very nice breakfast. I was so happy, with my children around me, while Arif went to Batman. Narin asked me for a hairpin, and she hugged both me and her brother Enes. That day, they didn't let me dress my daughter in a shroud. I haven't even seen her grave. That day, I gave her a bath for the last time. She asked me for potatoes, and when the potatoes arrived in prison, I cried. I sent my daughter to Quran classes, and I never saw Narin again; I swear she never came home again.
Yüksel Güran: (To Nevzat Bahtiyar's lawyer) You cried for Rojin's father yesterday. A man puts 8-year-old Narin in a sack and takes her to the riverbank. He says, 'I searched for a rope for 30 minutes.' He puts her in the water and places a stone on top. Then he comes and prays. I can shed tears for Rojin's father, but you shouldn't. I am sure they are crying for Narin, for us. We understand each other; you do not.
MOTHER GÜRAN REMOVED HER HEADSCAR IN THE COURTROOM
Mother Yüksel Güran removed her headscarf, apologizing to her great-uncle. Her hair was long down to her shoulders and dyed yellow with visible roots. A hair strand belonging to Narin was found. It was said that the hair was black. Yüksel Güran's hair is yellow.
Yüksel Güran: This is the first time I dyed my hair, and that was at the insistence of those around me.
Yüksel Güran: In prison, they first asked me, 'How many children do you have?' I paused and couldn't say, 'I have 2 daughters who are dead, and 5 living children.' I said, 'Please don't say that to me.' In prison, I lift my head and look up; I hear the call to prayer. God is our witness. This man (Nevzat) knew how much we loved Narin.
Yüksel Güran: We wanted a girl child. After losing Tülin, I had a girl after my sons. How could I harm her? When we learned that Narin was a girl while I was pregnant, we went and bought sweet soda; we were happy. Whatever we did, we were guilty. If I cried, I was guilty.
Yüksel Güran: They say to us, 'You have a field.' I came to this family as a bride, and we are still paying for that field. We plant and harvest and pay the bank. It has not benefited us; we saw its benefit for the first time this year, and they poisoned it.
Yüksel Güran: If we had oppressed Nevzat Bahtiyar, this man lived in the Güran's field, got married, and raised his children. Did we ever do him any harm? But he darkened all our lives. Nevzat was building a two-story house for himself. He turned the lives of all the Gürans into a prison. Our women, our children, they are all in prison. All the children are growing up without their mothers and fathers.
Yüksel Güran: I wish you could see my garden. Arif is working in Diyarbakır, Osman Öngörülü, and Enes is working in Malatya. I was dealing with that garden morning and night, for what? For 4 kilos of okra! Which mother does this? We never had a pair of shoes. What did you want from us? Why is Gazal, his wife, not here? I always told Nevzat's son İbrahim after Narin went missing, 'Don't leave Baran alone.' Look what he has done to us. Every morning, Nevzat's wife would come to my house and say, 'I feel like I am in my brother's house.'
Yüksel Güran: They made Nevzat look so pitiful. Right now, there may be people crying for Nevzat, but no one says that they brutally killed this woman's 8-year-old daughter. How can people be so cruel?
Mother Yüksel Güran's defense has ended. The hearing has been adjourned.
NAHİT EREN SPOKE ABOUT THE REMOVED LAWYERS
At the beginning of the hearing, former Diyarbakır Bar Association President Nahit Eren spoke about the lawyers who were removed from the courtroom yesterday.
Nahit Eren: Your silence regarding the irregularities that occurred in the hearing saddened us. The defendants are shouting here. The defendants are making threatening statements. I was shouted at and called. But we absolutely do not accept the treatment you have given to the lawyer. In this regard, our request from you is that no one should be in a position to intimidate anyone.
Judge: I have judged members of the PKK, ISIS, and FETÖ here. I know very well where to intervene. I am not yesterday's judge. I deliberately allowed Enes's Kalashnikov talk. Maybe I will file a criminal complaint. Maybe he will say something that will affect my decision. We also have something we know! My good intentions should not be abused. If my good intentions are abused, I will even remove the members of parliament.
DISCUSSION ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE HEARING
Enes Güran's lawyer, Mustafa Demir, made his defense against the indictment.
Mustafa Demir: (Turning to former Diyarbakır Bar Association President Nahit Eren) Mr. President, Nahit Eren made some posts regarding the Narin case. First of all, let me say that I do not think you made these posts with bad intentions.
Judge: Can I say this? We are the only ones who haven't spoken on social media in this hearing! You all spoke.
I'm not very good at it, but you talked to each other, you participated in women's programs. We didn't talk in this hearing.
Mustafa Demir: One of our colleagues said, 'The bases are holding data.' This is an incredibly frightening piece of information. Even the expert report doesn't say that. Enes's phone was not off at the time of the incident.
A MESSAGE WAS SENT SAYING "I AM NARIN"
Mustafa Demir: For a fire to break out, it is not necessary for the wires to touch each other. There have been fires caused by electrical wires before, and TEDAŞ compensated them for their damages. Evidence has been collected from everywhere, and regarding that slipper, someone would have found it anyway. What do you mean by 'How can you find it?' Someone would have found that slipper. A slipper that looks exactly the same. You already considered the family suspicious on the second day. I asked who told you about the potato line issue in the press, and they said, 'The gendarmerie said.' One of the citizens sent a message to Mr. Arif, writing 'I am Narin.' What ruthless people there are. We are in a cruel society.
Mustafa Demir: We saw the Twitter trials in this case. For example, they agree among themselves. They say, 'One of the Gürans came,' then they say, 'The Gürans threatened us with a weapon.' Who is that person? Let them be identified. How does everyone see every right in themselves? Prof. Dr. Ersan Şen talked about the presumption of innocence and was lynched.
Presiding Judge: I have been in Diyarbakır for 6 years, and I have made thousands of decisions. Even in the case where I gave a life sentence, there were those who said to me, 'There is no justice.' As a society, we criticize, but we can never be criticized.
Mustafa Demir: On the 8th, Nevzat goes to Tavşantepe. There are witnesses to this. They are having dinner at home, they ate stuffed meatballs. Why do we specify stuffed meatballs? Because the child remembers.
The interrogation of Nevzat Bahtiyar after his capture at the Diyarbakır Provincial Gendarmerie was watched in the courtroom.
“THE STATEMENT HAS CEASED TO BE NEVZAT BAHTIYAR'S STATEMENT”
Mustafa Demir: The main question here is, is this really Nevzat Bahtiyar's statement, or are these the guided statements of the person taking the statement? Because there is a clear guidance here. This guidance is not limited to certain areas; it goes much further. Sentences that Nevzat did not construct, sentences that do not appear in his statement, are written as if they were his statements. When we read Nevzat Bahtiyar's statements at the gendarmerie, there is a signature at the bottom, there is a lawyer, we can say, 'Okay, this is Nevzat's statement.' But here there are images, and we see that these statements actually do not belong to Nevzat. For example, a question is asked about a call, 'Why did you call at 15:08?' Nevzat says, 'I called about the water issue.' However, afterwards, a question comes, 'Are you regretful?' This question does not appear in Nevzat's statement. So, who is putting forth this statement? The gendarmerie personnel adds a sentence like, 'I wish I hadn't called, I wouldn't have been involved in this, I regret it.' However, such a statement does not come from Nevzat's mouth. Also, let's look at his words regarding the confession of the incident. The same situation exists here. We see that these statements are not Nevzat's but the words of the person taking the statement. The statement has ceased to be Nevzat Bahtiyar's statement.
“LAST HEARING WAS LIKE A GHOST, THIS HEARING IS AGGRESSIVE”
Mustafa Demir: The family says, 'They misled us,' and they also said, 'in an organized manner.' I wonder, what is the organization? If there hadn't been a farm camera in such a case, Nevzat would not have been found; no one would have suspected him. Last hearing he was like a ghost, this hearing he has an aggressive attitude. Can there be such a victimization? If you were Salim's man, why weren't you doing the plastering of his house?
Mustafa Demir: Mr. Arif says, 'I never valued Nevzat; his morals were not good.' But he had a good relationship with Salim for a while. If everyone is organizing, why do they say in the statement, 'Nevzat and Salim had a good relationship'? The reason this case has become complicated is that it does not explain anything. He keeps telling new lies. Just say that you didn't take a blanket or anything. But he knows he needs to connect it with DNA.
“LOOK HOW HE LISTENS”
Nevzat Bahtiyar generally moves very little; when he starts to listen by turning his head towards his lawyer, Mustafa Demir reported the situation.
Mustafa Demir: Why do you say 'I didn't go' even though you went to Tavşantepe Village that day? The person who made the report could be Nevzat's brother Vecdi. On the evening of September 7, the teams are withdrawing from the village. On the morning of the 8th, he is already found immediately. On that same morning, there is a phone call between him and his brother Vecdi before Narin is found. Are these coincidences? Look how he looks? Because he knows I am touching the right point.
Mustafa Demir: It is not clear at what time this man left the village. There are so many unknowns about him. When we received the file, we also suspected Salim, thinking, 'If what is being said is true.' Because we had said, 'Why did he delete these calls?' Now I apologize to his family. There is an application on his phone called 'Kaçamak' (Escape). The man came to the center of Diyarbakır with his children.
LAWYER DEMİR REMINDED OF MALCOLM X'S QUOTE
Mustafa Demir: Arif Güran gave a statement saying, 'Nevzat is a murderer.' Let's take action against everyone. Everyone's tweets and news are still there. They are affecting fair trial. We had no choice; we wouldn't have wanted to enter social media. Malcolm X has a beautiful quote, 'If you are not careful, the media will cause you to hate the oppressed and love the oppressor.'
Mustafa Demir: Yesterday we showed a video. He is calling his brother, cannot find him, and is hitting his knees. Because he is the older brother, he feels responsible and shows his reaction by hitting his knee.
Presiding Judge: I would like to state that no prison footage has been taken into consideration by our court and that these images are not given any credence. This is a matter related to the private lives of these individuals. There is a decision from the Constitutional Court on this matter.
“VALLEY OF THE WOLVES IS OUR RED LINE”
Mustafa Demir: A section about the Güran family was aired in the series. They portrayed Enes as a drug addict, a different person. People now see him like in that series. In this country, a funeral prayer was held because a character died in Valley of the Wolves.
Presiding Judge: Valley of the Wolves is our red line.
Mustafa Demir: We didn't say anything. We said we live as if this is real. Unfortunately, Turkey has gone in such a design. But I congratulate the Güran family, which brought together the leftists and conservatives. No one had succeeded in doing this.
Mustafa Demir: Before Enes described the torture, he stepped forward and said, 'Should I tell it correctly?' This is present in the footage from the previous hearing. If I had said to him, 'Don't tell it,' then everyone would have said, 'What does he know that they didn't let him tell?' So I said, 'Tell it,' and he described his torture.