Defendants Haven't Got a Clue...

The trial related to the "return to life" operation on 19-22 December 2000 started on Tuesday (23 November). The 'operation' left dead 28 prisoners and two soldiers in 28 prisons, hundreds of people were injured. The police violently ended the "death fasts" of hundreds of political prisoners in the course of the "return to life" operation.

39 gendarmerie officers on duty in the Bayrampaşa Prison (Istanbul) at the time now stand accused of killing 12 political prisoners and attempted killing of 29 inmates. 28 defendants attended the first hearing.

27 of the 28 defendants who attended the hearing refused to reply to the questions of the complainants' lawyers and claimed that they 'did not know, did not remember' or that they made use of their 'right to silence'. Those defendants were namely Vedat Ceylan, Halil Akgün, Tuncay Köken, Tuncay Bilgili, Sultan Dal, Serkan Aslan, Serhan Karaçoğa, Ramazan Şener, Ömer Seymenoğlu, Osman Aydemir, Oktay Sinoplu, Nevzat Kara, Mete Koçtürk, Mehmet Kaya, Mehmet Çöllü, Lütfü Kozan, Durmuş Özkaya, İbrahim Üstün, İbrahim Başer, Hilmi Çolak, Hayrettin Çiftçi, Eren Odabaşı, Erkan Çelik, Cemil Korkmaz, Bilal Akşit, Barış Suluyer and Mustafa Usta.

Most of the defendants stated they had been on duty in the Ümraniye Prison (on the Asian side of Istanbul) and that they did not remember anything regarding that day. They declared that they had not seen any wounded people and that they did not know what they came for.

The defendants contradicted previous statements and claimed unanimously, "I did not see anything, I said what I was told by my colleagues".

However, in statements taken in 2006, the defendants recalled, "Burnt and injured people came out [...]", "We were told that the operation was being carried out to relieve the prisoners who refused to join the hunger strike from the pressure of the leaders of the organization [...]".

Türker Geçdoğan was the only defendant who admitted to have heard "the sound of exploding gas cylinders".

Defendants did not show any remorse

The defendants exhibited with ostentation a carefree attitude during the hearing. They giggled, talked on their phones and left the courtroom to smoke a cigarette or go to the rest room.

"They said 'We will burn you all'"

Münevver Öz Aşçı who was incarcerated in the Bayrampaşa Prison Women's ward at the time identified defendant Mustafa Usta. She stated under tears, "I remember that person. He had a heavy weapon in his hand. I saw him when we escaped to the air conditioning system. Gray gas from the bombs was coming in through the drain and holes in the roof. The moment we fainted our bodies started to quiver and shake uncontrollably".

"The face of one of our friends was heavily burnt. We brought her downstairs. But we were not able to save the others. We heard the laughter of the soldiers. They told us 'We will burn you all'".

The defence lawyers requested to detain the defendants pending trial since they had contradicted their previous statements but the court board declined that request. In the late evening, the hearing was postponed to Thursday (25 November). Members of the People's Front had gathered in front of the courthouse. They shouted slogans and lamented the dead throughout the entire hearing.

"We fulfilled our duty, it was not my decision"

bianet talked to Hikmet Sami Türk who was the Minister of Justice at the time of the "return to life" operation. Türk said, "We fulfilled our duty. It was not my decision, it was the decision of the government".

The complainants' lawyers claimed that Türk held responsibility for the incident and demanded his prosecution.

Türk told bianet that he was not involved as a defendant in any of the trials related to the operation and that he did not follow the case regarding his attempted assassination.

Detained defendants Didem Akman and Serkan Onur Yılmaz are tried at the Ankara 11^th High Criminal Court because of a bomb attack against Türk. Both defendants are facing aggravated life sentences under charges of "opposing the Constitutional order" and another 20-year prison sentence each for plotting the attempted assassination.

Defendant felt compelled to plot assassination attempt

In relation with the Bayrampaşa trial, defendant Akman stressed the fact that not the people who gave the orders are being prosecuted but that the gendarmerie officers who followed the orders are on trial instead. Akman claimed in a hearing, "Hikmet Sami Türk carries the main responsibility for this incident". She added, "Türk was not tried as a defendant in any of the related cases, so I felt compelled to carry out this action". (BT/EÖ)