The case involving the criminal organization led by Ayhan Bora Kaplan was reheard after the regional appellate court overturned some of the rulings. Following the consolidation of the files concerning police officers, Kaplan’s lawyers and Serdar Sertçelik, the confidential witness codenamed “M7,” the trial, involving a total of 76 defendants, continued at the Ankara 32nd High Criminal Court. Defendants Ayhan Bora Kaplan and Serdar Sertçelik, who are in custody, attended the hearing.
Sertçelik alleged that he was being followed by certain political figures and law enforcement officials, that his being taken abroad was linked to this process, and that he had been threatened through his family. Saying that he had been held in custody in Hungary between May 2025 and January 2026, Sertçelik argued that fake emails and reports had been fabricated about him and that the phone allegedly belonging to him was fake. Sertçelik alleged that Prosecutor Mustafa Kaya had offered him a deal to accept the phone and said that this was a setup.
Kaplan, meanwhile, maintained that he had not fled and had been arrested without an arrest warrant being issued against him. He alleged that he had been pressured at the police station to sign a 7-8-page statement, had been threatened, and that the investigation had been directed through the media.
Why it matters
The case being reheard following appellate review indicates that the legal assessment of the previous verdicts is continuing and that the scope of the proceedings has expanded. The consolidation of the files concerning the police officers, lawyers and the confidential witness requires the court to consider not only the allegations of a criminal organization but also the actions taken during the investigation process. The allegations of surveillance, threats, being taken abroad, false reports and pressure raised at the hearing bring to the fore questions about how witness statements were obtained and the reliability of the evidence. Kaplan’s defense concerning his apprehension and the process of taking his statement also shows that the manner in which the investigation was conducted is one of the legal issues under debate in the case. How the court will assess these allegations and the links between the files will determine the subsequent course of the trial involving 76 defendants.