The most difficult thing for a lawyer is not being able to fulfill the requirements of his profession.
Not being able to give satisfactory answers to your client about legal processes.
“What will happen?” When he asks, he says, "I don't know either."
Especially if his client is detained.
Why?
Let me explain.
***
Imagine you are a journalist.
Someone you don't know who lives abroad reaches you. He makes very serious allegations against two MPs.
One is Osman Gökçek, the other is Mustafa Sarıgül.
He says that he has documents regarding Osman Gökçek's unregistered investment of 150 Million Euros. That Mustafa Sarıgül was trying to launder 1 Billion Euros of money.
You request documents, but he does not send any documents about Gökçek, but sends audio recordings and videos with fragments about Sarıgül.
You say, "These are not enough to support your claim." They say, "Make the news first, then we will send the documents." You don't accept it anyway.
You are looking for Osman Gökçek. You get the answer: “There is no such thing.” There is no document. You're not making any news anyway.
“We are laundering Sarıgül's money,” the whistleblower says in the video call. This conversation is being recorded.
Then this tipster sends two bank statements. Two receipts, one for 10 million Euros, allegedly going to Mustafa Sarıgül, and the other for 100 million Euros, allegedly going to Emir Sarıgül. It's not even a receipt, it's an internet banking screenshot.
It is not clear whether the receipts are real or not. You ask your sources and you get the answer "It's fake". You give the interlocutor's lawyer the right to reply, they say, "The 100 Euro receipt was made into 100 million, it is fake."
You think, "There's something wrong with this." The two sides once met around a common interest, but fell apart when their interests diverged.
Which one's words do you trust?
To none.
You do not publish a claim that you cannot verify.
Murat Ağırel did this.
What would you do if it were you?
***
Now imagine that you are a lawyer.
Your client Murat Ağırel is under house arrest. The police raid his house.
You are objecting to the detention decision. The criminal judge of peace must evaluate the objection within 24 hours. Weeks pass. No decision.
You are asking about the accusation. They say, "There is a limitation in the file." You object, weeks pass, no decision.
Your client learns from another journalist's X post that he will be arrested before his statement has even been taken.
If you ask "What's going on?" he asks. You don't know.
“What about your objections?” he asks, you can't answer.
He is accused of "money laundering" at the Police Department. “Which money did the client launder?” you object. No answer.
A day later, at the prosecutor's office, the accusation turns into membership in a terrorist organization. "They even thought that another journalist friend of theirs was doing the news preparation and reached out to him. Is membership in such an organization possible?" you say. You don't get an answer.
The prosecutor requests arrest. This time the accusation turned into "aiding the organization without being a member". And your client is arrested. He asks you “Why?” saying. You just keep silent.
You object to the arrest. The file does not go to the criminal court of first instance to review the objection for days. You are running from one pen to another in the courthouse. There is still no result of the objection.
You determine that one of the photos of Sinan Çampınar and Emir Sarıgül was published by another person months ago. You are asking for release by saying, "You know, the client gave the documents to the Sarıgül family, but someone else published them months ago." Not even a decision is made.
I ask again:
What would you do if it were you?
***
Murat Ağırel said in prison, "Since there is no need to search for documents while making news, I just do it." He wrote about the same people's allegations about Osman Gökçek.
Gökçek filed a criminal complaint.
Murat naturally asked:
"Making news without documentation is a crime, and not reporting news without documentation is also a crime. What should I do?"
***
Today, the authenticity of the receipts that Murat supposedly gave to the Sarıgül family is still controversial. The person who says he laundered money files a complaint. The journalist who tried to verify the claim is in prison.
This unlawfulness is not only a problem of journalists. It's not the first and it doesn't look like it will be the last. The same unlawfulness may happen to another citizen tomorrow. This is a matter of legal security.
The letter Martin Luther King wrote from prison explains this:
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Don't forget. We are under threat.
