Mehmet Akif Ersoy defended himself like this: 'There is no organization and I am not a leader'

Detained defendants Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Mustafa Manaz, undetained defendant Ufuk Tetik and their lawyers attended the second hearing of the case heard yesterday at the Istanbul 19th High Criminal Court. Victims and witnesses were heard at the hearing.

'I am neither a complainant nor a victim'

In her statement, victim Elif Kılınç stated that the drug test was negative and said, "I was not victimized by anyone named in this file, nor by anyone else. I was not subjected to a sexual assault, if I had been, I would have filed a complaint that day. Mehmet Akif Ersoy was not the one who hired me. I am not complaining about anyone, nor am I a victim."

Victim anchor Meltem Acet said in her statement, "I am 52 years old, my whole life has been turned upside down. My name was included in this investigation with a fiction. I am not a victim in this file, nor am I a complainant. But I am a victim of what I experienced, my life was turned upside down overnight. I did not witness anything."

The presiding judge asked the anonymous witness whether the previous hearing was in this courtroom and said that the defendants had made a statement to that effect. The secret witness said, "I was in this courtroom last hearing, I listened to this hearing." Thereupon, the presiding judge said, "We cannot listen to you like this, we are removing you from the testimony."

'I CANNOT EVEN GO OUTSIDE, let alone run away'

Mehmet Akif Ersoy also said the following at the hearing: "It has been seen that none of the actions took place. It is obvious that there is no insanity in any of the crimes that the prosecutor has accused as a crime, no one is complaining. There is no organization, I am not the leader of the organization or anything. Men were the defendants, women were the victims. Everyone was a suspect at first. Everyone is a victim here. If you write my name on the internet, you will see slander, insult and ugly allegations. You can be sure that I cannot even leave the house in this state, let alone escape. I demand my release and acquittal."

Announcing its interim decision, the court decided to continue Mehmet Akif Ersoy's detention. The court ordered house arrest for the detained defendant Mustafa Manaz and postponed the hearing until January.