The investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against 13 suspects, 11 of whom were detained, who shared criminal content on various platforms after the school attacks in Şanlıurfa on April 14 and in Kahramanmaraş the next day, was completed.
In the prepared indictment, it was stated that at a time when there was intense public concern and anxiety about new attacks on educational institutions following the school attacks in two provinces, posts were made in 4 different groups on the Telegram platform regarding school attacks, acts of murder and the possibilities of new attacks.
THOSE WHO MADE THE SHARES WERE CAUGHT ONE BY ONE
When the content of the posts and the time they were made were evaluated together, the indictment noted that the statements were suitable to be perceived not as ordinary swearing or an abstract discussion, but as open threatening and intimidating messages that new attacks could be made after the school attacks, and it was stated that those who shared the posts in the groups were detected and caught by the Public Security Bureau of the Istanbul Security Branch Directorate.
In the indictment, which included the defendants' statements taken at the police station, it was stated that the defendant Eren Evren admitted in his statement that he founded the group in question.
Evren explained that he founded the group in question, where the posts in the investigation were shared, because this group became popular after the attacks on schools in Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş, and claimed that he wanted to have a Telegram group where he could have a large number of followers using this name.
Evren stated that he later changed the name of the group and aimed to use it for advertising and making money with the followers who joined the group with a different name, and claimed that he had no connection with the said formation.
Evren claimed that he was not the content creator of the posts, and argued that he was quoting these posts from a different group that he was a member of, which was opened under the same name and included 15-20 thousand people.
Evren, who claimed that he did not know that the messages were criminal messages, that he was drunk when activating his account, and that he copied and pasted the messages from another group to increase the number of followers, stated that he did not accept the accusation made against him, and that he realized the seriousness of the incident after he was detained and regretted it.
"I SHARED TO CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT FOR FIGHT" DEFENSE
Emre Topci, one of the defendants, stated in his statement that he graduated from high school in 2025, did not do any work, had no criminal record, and lived with his family.
Explaining that the account in the Telegram application belongs to him and that he created the account about a year ago, Topci claimed that he made the post to have fun by annoying the people in the group and creating a fight environment, and that his purpose was only to have black humor and fun.
Defendant Taha Yaprak, in his statement, stated that he took a break from his university education for financial reasons and that he went to electrical repair and renovation works from time to time in order to save money to return, and claimed that he did not know much about electronics and software programming and that he had no interest in weapons, all kinds of lethal devices and computer games.
In the indictment, it was requested that Eren Evren, Taha Yaprak, Berkay Bayramoğlu, Ümit Nadul, Zeki Cihan Duran, Emre Topci, Düzgün Ali Edeş, Fatih Alabay, Hanifi Yılmaz, Kadircan Yıldız, Seyfullah Bakan, Veli Fırat and Özgür Doğan be sentenced to imprisonment from 2 to 4 years each for the crime of "threatening to create fear and panic among the public".
The trial of the defendants within the scope of the indictment accepted by the Istanbul criminal court of first instance will begin in the coming days.
