He was tried again after the Constitutional Court's violation decision: Former Education-Business President Veli Demir was acquitted!

The retrial hearing of the case filed against former Eğitim-İş Chairman and Secularism Council member Veli Demir due to his statements criticizing the political relations behind the July 15 coup attempt was held at the Konya 16th Criminal Court of First Instance. Eğitim-İş Union managers, branches and democratic mass organizations attended the hearing to show solidarity.

Educator Demir was previously sentenced to 6 months in prison by the same court on the charge of "publicly insulting the government" in Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) due to his criticisms during his time as a union president. The Constitutional Court (AYM), which examined the file after the sentence became final, ruled that the conviction was a "violation of freedom of expression" and sent the file to the court for a retrial.

In his defense, Demir stated that he stood behind his criticisms and spoke on behalf of 200 thousand members and more than 1 million teachers; "Why am I on the defendant's stand? I am here because I said that the government is responsible for the FETO coup attempt. Is it a lie? As Eğitim-İş, we have stated that Fethullah Gülen was the target of a military coup since the day we were founded. I criticized a political approach that governs the state. AKP is not a state, but a political party that came to power through elections. I will give the child that this nation entrusted to me as a baby, citizenship awareness and teach him to hold him accountable; but I will not hold him accountable myself, right? I will tell about the Republic, but I will teach him to hold him accountable." "I won't defend it, right? I won't sacrifice my truth for the possibility of punishment for my country," he said.

Describing the AKP government as "the product of a coup", Demir said; "I am here because I called the government of the period 'the product of a coup'. The September 12 fascist military coup brought religious, sharia-supporting structures in Turkey to power and blocked the left, socialist, Atatürkist thought. The government is also a result of this coup. Eğitim-İş defined the September 12, 2010 Referendum as a coup attempt against democracy and made great efforts to enlighten the public on this issue. You know, the AKP's prepared and "I am talking about the referendum in which the leader of FETO said, 'If it were possible, we should raise the people in the graves to vote yes in the referendum,' and then surrounded the judicial institutions with his followers. The AKP ate the fruits of the referendum process, which we described as an attempt to coup democracy, and then claimed that this process victimized itself."

Iron defense; "There is a violation decision of the Constitutional Court before you. In line with the justification of this decision, I request that the consequences of the previous conviction and violation be eliminated and that I be acquitted. My request is not a donation, but a request for the right to be given to its owner," he concluded. Evaluating the file within the scope of the binding decision of the Constitutional Court and the lack of legal elements, the court decided to acquit Demir.