The hearing in the case where Ümit Özdağ is on trial has been postponed

Victory Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ, in the case filed against him upon the complaint of former Welfare Party Deputy Şevki Yılmaz, said, "I am a professor in the field of political science. If I were a boxer, what would be inferred from this would be beating. But as an academician who studies in political science, what I will show is not physical violence, but documents regarding information."

The court postponed the hearing to November 4 due to the possibility that the nature of the crime could change from "threat" to "insult".

Özdağ made an additional statement to his previous defenses at the hearing.

Stating that the prosecutor requested to be punished in his opinion on the merits, Özdağ said, "The prosecutor wanted me to be punished in his opinion. I wondered why I wanted to be punished. He wanted me to be punished under TCK 106/3."

“I DON'T KNOW HIM, WE NEVER MEET HIM”

Speaking about his post that was the subject of the case, Özdağ reminded the words used by Şevki Yılmaz at the wedding of a member of the Ottoman dynasty and said:

"The expression I used is very clear. The complainant is attending the wedding here. The wedding is a wedding attended by the Ottoman dynasty. In his speech at the wedding, he says, 'The degenerates who drove the dynasty abroad'. Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Gazi Parliament who drove the dynasty abroad. There is no debate about this. I do not know him, we have not met. He is also a politician and I am a politician. So I reacted. I said, 'If we meet one day, I will show you who is noble and who is degenerate.'"

“WHAT I WILL SHOW IS NOT PHYSICAL VIOLENCE, BUT INFORMATIONAL DOCUMENTS”

Arguing that his words cannot be considered as a threat, Özdağ continued as follows:

"I am a professor in the field of political science. If I were a boxer, what would be inferred from this would be beating. But as an academic who studies in political science, what I would show is not physical violence, but information-related documents. There will be neither an insult nor a threat from this. I am surprised that this case has even been opened. The Public Prosecutor's Office calls it 'other evil'. In other words, no real threat has been detected."

Demanding his acquittal, Özdağ said, "What should I say if I meet him one day and will be punished for the documents I will show him?"

LAWYER YILMAZ: “THE MATERIAL AND MORAL ELEMENTS OF THE CRIME HAVE NOT BEEN FORMED”

Özdağ's lawyer Murat Yılmaz also argued that there was no threatening intent in his client's words and said, "It is not possible for a person who is the Chairman of the Victory Party to remain silent for a person who calls Mustafa Kemal Atatürk a degenerate."

Stating that there was a reaction from politicians and non-governmental organizations to Şevki Yılmaz's words, Yılmaz said:

"The material and moral elements of the crime have not been formed. We can call it a complete challenge. It is a phrase frequently used among politicians. My client has no intention. No one can think that the political science professor will be subjected to violence. There is no element of intent. There is no element of evil. Therefore, I request that the opinion be rejected and my client be acquitted."

After taking the defense statements of the defendant and the party's lawyers, the court postponed the hearing to November 4 due to the change of the nature of the crime from "threat" to "insult".

ÖZDAĞ: “WILL MAKE THE FINAL DECISION ON THE 4TH OF THE MONTH”

In his statement in front of the Kocaeli Courthouse after the hearing, Özdağ stated that Şevki Yılmaz used the phrase "degenerates who drove the dynasty abroad" at the wedding of a member of the Ottoman dynasty and said:

"The decision to exile the dynasty abroad was taken by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the government of the period and the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In other words, Şevki Yılmaz clearly insulted the leader of our War of Independence, the founder of our Republic, its founding staff and the Gazi Parliament. There were also very harsh reactions from other politicians."

Arguing that his reaction to Yılmaz was not a threat, Özdağ continued his words as follows:

“As a professor of political science and an academician who wrote a doctoral thesis about this period, I told him, 'If we meet, I will show who the noble and the despicable are. If we had actually met, I would have explained, one by one, who committed degeneracy with their documents, who said yes to the occupation, who got married while the Turkish nation was fighting the War of Independence on the Sakarya coast, fighting for life and death.'

Regarding the court's decision, Özdağ said, "Today, the court made a decision that the crime of threat did not occur, that it could at most be considered an insult, but that this also needed to be discussed, and postponed it to the 4th of the month. It will make the final decision on the 4th of the month. I hope it will be a decision that will bring justice to justice."

“WE WILL CONTINUE TO OPPOSE ATATURK AND OUR FOUNDING TEAM WHEN INSULTED”

Özdağ said:

"No one can curse Atatürk and our founding members. Whenever they swear or insult us, we will continue our struggle and oppose them, as we have done until today. This nation has its sacred ones. It is not anyone's place to insult the religious sacred and national sacred values of this nation."

THE CASE WAS FILED BASED ON ŞEVKİ YILMAZ'S COMPLAINT

The case is based on the debate that started after Şevki Yılmaz used the words "I curse the degenerates who drove the Ottoman Empire" at the wedding of Berna Sultan Osmanoğlu, a member of the Ottoman dynasty, in 2024.

Özdağ reacted to Yılmaz's words on his social media account with the following statement: "Şevki, I hope we meet somewhere. I will show you who the noble and the degenerate are."

Following Yılmaz's complaint, a lawsuit was filed against Özdağ on the charge of "threat".