Journalist Selahattin Günday was detained in the reopened investigation into the death of former MİT officer Kaşif Kozinoğlu in Silivri Prison in 2011.
Journalist Selahattin Günday's statement to the gendarmerie has been completed.
PERIOD OF DETENTION HAS BEEN EXTENDED
Journalist Günday's detention period was extended for one more day because the prosecutor's office requested the statements of all those detained.
Günday said in his statement:
"I have worked in various units in the press sector since 2002. I have not been working for about 7-8 months. I understood the question you asked me. I was on duty at the courthouse with my cameraman friend İdris Tiftikçi on the day Kaşif Kozinoğlu came to the courthouse. At that time, within the scope of the investigation known in the press as the Oda TV Investigation, some state officials were coming to the courthouse in Beşiktaş to testify to the Specially Authorized Prosecutor's Office. We closely followed this investigation as courthouse reporters to report in front of the courthouse. We were following him. When Kaşif Bey came to the courthouse, more than fifty reporters were waiting in front of the protocol door of the courthouse. A group of journalists were waiting in front of the lower door that enters the courtroom (university side).
Within the scope of this investigation, it was reported in the press that MİT officer Kaşif Kozinoğlu would come to the courthouse to testify. We started waiting because we did not know when he would arrive at the courthouse. Also, neither I nor my cameraman friend İdris knew the description of Mr. Explorer. We, along with all the journalists present, were recording everyone who entered the courthouse. One or two unknown vehicles with dark tinted windows entered the protocol entrance. Three or four people in suits got out of the vehicles and quickly entered the courthouse through the protocol gate. All the journalists present recorded this entry. However, I do not remember whether İdris Tiftikçi could take video or not.
I immediately called the news center and told them that two vehicles entered and we recorded those who got out of the vehicle, but I could not recognize whether Kaşif Kozinoğlu was among these people who entered the courthouse. Meanwhile, I received information about a rush at the back door where I was not present. I saw a person getting in from the back, I asked the reporters there what happened and who was getting in the vehicle. They told me that "two people came to the back door of the courthouse, they wanted to enter the courthouse by walking through a narrow corridor with a barrier at the entrance, they were stopped by the courthouse police who were here, saying 'Who are you', they attracted the attention of the journalists who were here, and they listened to the conversation and approached them a little more. After the people who came to the courthouse said to the police, they started filming thinking it might be Kaşif Kozinoğlu, and even when the journalists called out 'Kashif Bey', they started to run nervously." They said they got in the vehicle and drove away. Later, I was sorry that we couldn't take the image. I returned to the area in front of the protocol gate with the journalists. I continued to wait.
"I HEARD THEM SAYING 'HE CAME AGAIN'"
As far as I remember, while a vehicle was entering the protocol gate within 10-15 minutes, I heard some journalists say "Oh... it's here again". I took my phone and quickly informed the center. At that time, the person, who I later realized was Kaşif Kozinoğlu, got out of the vehicle and walked calmly into the courthouse through the protocol entrance, and cameraman İdris Tiftikci recorded the image from this protocol entrance. In fact, in that image, I am the one wearing the black Adidas logo beret and the people next to me are journalists like me. Then, Explorer Kozinoğlu could not be seen again because he was arrested on the same day. We delivered the video taken by Idris at the protocol gate to the center and it was reported as breaking information. However, I remember that the image we sent to the center is not the image accessed from the back. However, I reported to the news center that Explorer Kozinoğlu came to the courthouse. The news center may have received this footage from other news agencies that recorded the back door footage or we reported it from other journalists who filmed the back door footage, but I do not remember this exactly. I did not receive the recording in question.
''I DID NOT GET INFORMATION FROM ANYONE IN THE COURTHOUSE''
I don't know if Idris got it or not. I did not receive information from anyone in the courthouse regarding Kaşif Kozinoğlu's entrance to the courthouse. I know the former Public Prosecutor named Fikret Seçen, about whom you asked me, as one of the prosecutors of the Ergenekon investigation at that time. Other than that, I have no dialogue with him. In fact, while natural death and heart attack news are generally reported in the press about the death of Explorer Kozinoğlu, I am the first journalist to reflect the possibility of suspicious death to the press with the interviews I conducted with his lawyer Hüseyin Derin Yarsuvat. I am attaching the news I made on 21 November 2011, 22 November 2011 and 12 December 2011, consisting of a total of 12 pages, to my statement to be added to the file. I am a person who strictly adheres to journalistic ethics. I cannot have any other purpose other than journalism. This is all I know. I do not accept the accusations made against me. I did not take the images. “I have nothing else to say.”
