Some detained defendants and their lawyers attended the hearing at the Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court. The defendants, who made their defense at the hearing, asked for their acquittal.
The court panel that decided the case decided that Turabi Şen and Elif Gül should be sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison each for the crime of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization".
The committee decided to acquit the defendants Livan Gür, Cemalettin Yüksel, Hasan Özdemir, Bülent Kayğun, Güzin Alpaslan, İkbal Polat, Sinan Gökçe, Nesimi Aday from the crime charged against them.
From the indictment
In the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, it was stated that the defendants, who were determined to be members of the People's Democratic Congress (HDK), started to work in their district municipalities after the local elections on March 31, 2024.
The indictment, which stated that an investigation was launched against the defendants after it was understood that they were members of the organization operating within the scope of the "urban reconciliation" formula, included various evaluations regarding the defendants' ties with the terrorist organization PKK.
In the indictment, in the document seized during the search at the house of Kartal Deputy Mayor Cemalettin Yüksel, one of the defendants, a handwritten note was written: "There is no doubt. The way to heal the deep social wounds caused by the events of October 6-8 is to reveal the truth about these events - October 10." It was reported that the text containing the statement was included.
In the indictment, where it was understood that the article in question was written regarding the street events that took place in the Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions on 6-7-8 October 2014, carried out by the supporters of the terrorist organization PKK/YPG upon the call of the HDP Central Executive Board, it was stated that there were photographs of Sancaktepe Municipal Council Member defendant Elif Gül, her husband Fethi Ahmet Gül and her daughter Dilan Gül, taken in the rural area of the terrorist organization on 1-2 November 2014.
In the indictment, it was stated that during the investigations carried out by the police, Elif Gül and her husband left the Şırnak Habur Border Gate on October 29, 2014 and entered on November 2 of the same year, and that the photograph of the defendant Gül with her relative İshak Özçaktu, one of the so-called special forces officers of the organization, was seized in 2012.
It was stated in the indictment that many organizational documents were seized during the search of the defendants' homes, and that they had communicated with many people affiliated with the terrorist organization as a result of the HTS investigations. It was stated that some of the defendants were placed in various district municipalities in Istanbul in line with the instructions known as "urban reconciliation" to infiltrate the members of the terrorist organization into the metropolitan municipalities, and most of them were also made to become council members of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM).
In the indictment, it was noted that the defendants jointly aimed to support the financial structure of the terrorist organization and increase its field power, and it was explained that the HDK, of which they were members, was a legal-looking front structure of the terrorist organization and an alternative parliament to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, hierarchically the umbrella structure of the political field structure under the KCK/TDÖ fragment organization, which is the so-called Turkish executive of the terrorist organization PKK/KCK.
In the indictment, which stated that the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), a similar organization, was accepted as an element of a terrorist organization and a terrorist organization by the decision of the 16th Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, it was pointed out that the instructions and suggestions of the KCK executive council members gave a role to HDK and its elements within the scope of the "urban reconciliation" strategy implemented to achieve the goals of "democratic autonomy".
In the indictment, it is stated that the defendants established an organic bond with the terrorist organization and that they committed the crime of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization" in a way that included diversity, intensity and continuity within the hierarchical structure of the organization, and added: "Our investigations will continue by deepening to reveal all other persons whose participation will be determined in order to implement the 'urban reconciliation' activity that aims to increase the effectiveness of the terrorist organization in metropolitan provinces." The statement was included.
For these reasons, it was requested that the defendants Livan Gür, Cemalettin Yüksel, Turabi Şen, Hasan Özdemir, Bülent Kayğun, Elif Gül, Güzin Alpaslan, İkbal Polat, Sinan Gökçe, Nesimi Aday be sentenced to imprisonment from 7 years to 6 months to 15 years each for the crime of "being a member of an armed terrorist organization".
