Akın Gürlek served as the presiding judge of the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize for a total of 25 hearings (107-131) between July 2020 and March 2021, when the verdict was announced, in the trial of public officials charged with responsibility for the Dink murder. A detailed profile of Gürlek, who was subsequently appointed as Deputy Minister of Justice after the trial, would be an important criterion for understanding the trial and the judgment that resulted from it.
His attitude in the proceedings
Gürlek’s conduct throughout the trial can be summarized as restricting the right to defense, prejudging the defendants, discriminating between the defendants, and rejecting the defendants’ favorable requests. At the end of the trial, a completely arbitrary verdict emerged, full of errors of logic and reasoning, with no causal links between the acts and facts. In order to understand Gürlek’s attitude during the hearings, it is necessary to look at some examples:
At the 124th hearing, a tense discussion took place between Lawyers Vural Ergül and Gürlek. Lawyer Ergül criticized Gürlek for constantly interrupting the defense of his client, Defendant Hamza Celepoğlu, and for limiting the time allotted to them. President Gürlek’s responses were patronizing, focusing on procedural formalities rather than addressing the concerns raised by Attorney Ergül.
At the 126th hearing, defendant Yavuz Karakaya, represented by his lawyer, also contested Gürlek. Karakaya, who passionately argued that he was innocent, criticized Gürlek for not giving him enough time to present his case, likening it to being on trial by hanging without being given a fair chance to defend himself. Gürlek, however, dismissed Karakaya’s concerns and urged him to focus only on the charges at hand.
At the 127th hearing, Gürlek addressed the accused Ramazan Akyürek, noting that it had been 1.5 hours since the last defense began and that there were only 10 minutes left for the last words. Worried that his defense would be incomplete, Akyürek was encouraged by Gürlek to focus only on the important points, especially those related to the charges against him.
Again at the 127th hearing, Gürlek informed the defendant Muharrem Demirkale that the time allotted for his defense had expired. However, Demirkale stated that he was halfway through and wanted to continue. Gürlek claimed that he gave everyone equal time. Demirkale requested more time, emphasizing the importance of discussing the indictment and the prosecutor’s closing statement in his defense, but Gürlek responded by urging Demirkale to quickly conclude his defense.
At the 128th hearing, Gürlek asked the defendant Ali Fuat Yılmazer to complete his statements. Yılmazer stated that he felt constrained and could not fully convey what he wanted to say. However, Gürlek gave Yılmazer only five minutes of additional time to complete his statement.
These dialogues between Gürlek and the defendants demonstrate that the defense’s right to a fair and unhindered presentation was compromised by the President’s tight control and bias in court proceedings. Moreover, these interventions also reveal that the defendants did not have sufficient time to present a full and detailed defense in the wake of the President’s bias, reflecting a disregard for the defendants’ right to a thorough and fair trial.
Controversial Court Presidency
Before proceeding to a detailed profile of Gürlek, it is necessary to clarify whether Gürlek is authorized to preside over the court. According to Law No. 2802 on Judges and Prosecutors, the appointment of judges and the determination of their permanent powers belong to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors. As an exception to this, Article 115 of the Law stipulates that only in cases of necessity, the President of the Justice Commission may assign a judge to a court. Article 115 reads as follows: “A judge who is absent for any reason shall be replaced by the chairman of the justice commission from among the judges in that place, until such judge resumes his duty or until he is authorized by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors; a public prosecutor who is absent for any reason in a judicial jurisdiction shall be replaced by the chief public prosecutor of the heavy penal public prosecutor from among the public prosecutors in that jurisdiction, until such public prosecutor resumes his duty or until he is authorized by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors. ” As it can be understood from the explicit provision, there must be a compulsory situation for the assignment by the chairman of the Justice Commission and the assigned judge will only serve until the authorization is made by the Board.
Gürlek, who also took part in the verdict hearing, has been the de facto president of the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize since July 2020. However, there is no decision of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors or any decree of the First Chamber of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors appointing Gürlek as the President of the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize.
Akın Gürlek was appointed as Lalapaşa Judge on 9 October 2007,[1] on 14 September 2010 as Ardanuç Judge,[2] on 1 July 2011 as Bünyan Judge,[3] on 9 October 2012 as Gölhisar Judge,[4] on 26 July 2014 as Çerkezköy Judge,[5] on 6 June 2016 as Istanbul Judge,[6] on 31 May 2019 as the Presiding Judge of Istanbul Court of Assize[7]. Gürlek, who served as a Criminal Judge of Peace in Istanbul, as a member of the 13th Court of Assize (Presidency of the 2nd Panel), as a member of the 26th Court of Assize (Presidency of the 2nd Panel), was finally authorized as the President of the 37th Istanbul Assize Court on 19 September 2018 with the decision numbered 1322 of the First Chamber of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors.[8] There is no published decision or decree regarding Gürlek’s appointment or authorization after this date.
If Gürlek had been assigned by the President of the Justice Commission due to a compulsory situation (and there is no situation that would require a compulsory situation) in accordance with Article 115 of Law No. 2802, he should have been authorized by the CJP as required by law in the permanent decrees published after July 2020. On July 17 and 27, 2020, the First Chamber of the CJP published decrees determining the permanent powers[9], but Gürlek’s name was not included. Again, on January 18 and March 26, 2021, the First Chamber of the CJP issued decrees determining the permanent powers[10] and again Gürlek’s name was not included. Therefore, there is no published decision or decree stating that Gürlek is the President of the Istanbul 14th Assize Court and therefore the Istanbul 14th Assize Court does not meet the requirements of a “court established by law”.
As a result, the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize did not qualify as a “court established by law” since Gürlek, who was the president of the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize on March 26, 2021, when the verdict was announced, unlawfully presided over the court.
Akın Gürlek and his pro-AKP regime decisions
Akın Gürlek is the former president of the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize, which the Turkish public has heard of as “the judge who does not recognize the decision of the Constitutional Court, the judge of critical cases and the judge whose name appears in almost all political cases”. However, Gürlek’s career should be considered more comprehensively.
- Turgut Kazan, former president of the Istanbul Bar Association, said: “The presiding judge who gave the Berberoğlu verdict was previously at the 26th ACM. He sentenced Selahattin Demirtaş and Sırrı Süreyya. When Selçuk Kozağaçlı and ÇHD lawyers were released by the 37th ACM, all the judges who gave the verdict were disbanded and the president Akın Gürlek was sent to this court. Then the ÇHD lawyers were sentenced to very heavy penalties. And Canan Kaftancıoğlu and Sözcü writers were sentenced to heavy sentences by this court, which was also headed by Akın Gürlek,” he said and explained Gürlek’s function in political trials.
- Until he was appointed as the 2nd Criminal Judge of Peace in Istanbul, Gürlek handled civil cases in cadastre, civil law, execution and commercial courts, and after he was appointed as the Criminal Judge of Peace in 2017, he started working as a criminal judge. Shortly after he started working as a criminal judge, he was assigned as the head of the 2nd Panel at Istanbul 13th Court of Assize.
On 15 April 2017, while he was Istanbul’s 2nd Criminal Judge of Peace, Gürlek signed the decision to re-arrest 12 journalists, including singers Atilla Taş and Murat Aksoy and Büşra Erdal, who had been released from prison, without allowing them to leave prison due to coup attempt allegations.
journalist Oğuz Güven, former Editor-in-Chief of cumhuriyet.com.tr, was arrested by Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of Peace judge Akm Gürlek on 16 May 2017 for a post he made on Twitter, which he immediately deleted. - Gürlek, as the 4th Criminal Judge of Peace of Istanbul, imposed an access ban on September 28, 2017, at Güvenç’s request, on several news outlets, including the book “Mahrem / Turkey’s Secrets in Confidential Documents”, which details how the case of the rape of a 15-year-old girl named S.Ö. by 84 people was closed when Celalettin Güvenç of the AKP was governor of Erzurum.
- During his term as a Criminal Judge of Peace in Istanbul, Gürlek issued numerous decisions on the continuation of detention of suspects related to the Gülen Movement with copy and paste decisions. For example, in his decisions on 27/12/2016, 23/02/2017, 24/02/2017, 24/03/2017, 15/05/2017, 29/05/2017, 05/06/2017, 15/09/2017 and 16/10/2017 regarding the continuation of detention of some suspects; “Regarding the crime of being a member of an armed terrorist organization; the nature and nature of the crime, the current state of evidence and the fact that not all of the evidence has been collected yet, the upper limit of the penalty stipulated in the law, the existence of concrete evidence showing the existence of strong criminal suspicion that the suspect has committed the crime attributed to him, the fact that the crime attributed to him is one of the catalog crimes listed in Article 100 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Considering the gravity and importance of the crime subject to the investigation, the application of judicial control provisions will be insufficient at this stage, the arrest measure is proportionate to the possible punishment or security measures to be given if the crime is deemed fixed, in this way, there is no new evidence that requires the termination of the suspect’s detention, and the reasons for arrest have not disappeared, the following judgment has been established regarding the continuation of the suspect’s detention as follows. “, the court stated.
On April 17, 2018, Istanbul 26th High Criminal Court, presided by Gürlek, sentenced writer İhsan Eliaçık, who was on trial for allegedly making terrorist organization propaganda in his writings and speeches on a website, to 6 years and 3 months in prison for “making propaganda for an armed terrorist organization.” - On July 19, 2018, Istanbul 26th Court of Assize, also presided by Gürlek, sentenced Cumhuriyet Newspaper reporter Canan Coşkun to 2 years and 3 months in prison on the charge of “targeting people who took part in the fight against terrorism.”
- Helin Bölek, the lawyer of Berkay Ustabaş, a sociology student who has been in pre-trial detention for nearly 9 months for attending Berkin Elvan’s funeral, was warned by Akın Gürlek, the president of Istanbul 26th Assize Court, “You are committing a crime right now” for using the phrase “Berkin Elvan is a child who was killed with the instruction of the state” in the hearing held on September 5, 2018, and the statement “Bölek was warned not to speak in a way that accuses the state” was written in the minutes of the hearing.
- On 7 September 2018, a panel of Istanbul 26th Assize Court presided by Gürlek sentenced former HDP Co-Chair Selahattin DemirtaşT to 4 years and 8 months and former HDP Ankara MP Sırrı Süreyya Önder to 3 years and 6 months in prison for “making propaganda for an armed terrorist organization.”
- On December 11, 2018, Gürlek was the presiding judge of the Istanbul 37th Court of Assize , which sentenced journalist Ece Sevim Öztürk to 3 years, 1 month and 15 days in prison for her interrogative reporting on the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.
- On December 11, 2018, Istanbul 37th Assize Court presided by GÜRLEK sentenced Prof. Dr. Gençay Gürsoy, the president of TTB, to 2 years and 3 months in prison for signing the declaration “We will not be a party to this crime” prepared by Academics for Peace, and cited Gürsoy’s status as the president of TTB as the reason for not reducing the sentence.
- On December 19, 2018, Istanbul Court of Assize No 37, also presided by GÜRLEK, sentenced Prof. Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, to 2 years and 6 months in prison for signing the petition “We will not be a party to this crime” and did not reduce the sentence.
- In the hearing held on 12 February 2019 under the presidency of GÜRLEK, Istanbul 37th Assize Court sentenced Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gülsün Güvenli, who is on trial for signing the petition “We will not be a party to this crime”, to 1 year and 3 months imprisonment with a judicial control order to pay a condolence visit to the wife of a murdered police officer. The judicial control order was lifted upon appeal.
- On March 20, 2019, lawyers from ÇHD and HHB were sentenced to between 11 and 18 years in prison upon the appointment of Gürlek as the President of Istanbul 37th ACM, while 17 lawyers, including ÇHD President Selçuk Kozağaçlı, were released from prison.
- On September 6, 2019, Istanbul 37th Assize Court, presided by Akın Gürlek, sentenced Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu to 9 years, 8 months and 20 days in prison for some social media posts she made six years ago.
- Writers and executives of Sözcü Newspaper were sentenced to prison sentences ranging from 3 years and 6 months to 2 years and 1 month on December 27, 2019 by Istanbul 37th Assize Court presided by Gürlek on the charge of “knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization.”
- On October 7, 2020, Istanbul 14th Assize Court presided by Gürlek ordered the seizure of all of Can Dündar’s movable and immovable assets and bank accounts. All assets of Can Dündar, former Editor-in-Chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, who went abroad during the trial in the MİT Trucks case, were seized and a trustee was appointed for Dündar’s 3 properties.
- Following the Constitutional Court’s “violation of rights” ruling in the case of Enis Berberoğlu, who was stripped of his parliamentary seat, the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize, presided by Gürlek, did not recognize the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the grounds that it “falls within the scope of the review of propriety” and ruled on 13 October 2020 that there was no need for Berberoğlu’s retrial.
- On Dec. 16, 2020, the Istanbul 14th Assize Court, presided by Akın Gürlek, announced the verdict in the trial of the case, known as Selam-Tevhid case in the public opinion, in which police officers who were conducting a judicial investigation into a terrorist organization were put on trial for fulfilling their duties and responsibilities, and sentenced 20 defendants to aggravated life imprisonment and 9 defendants to life imprisonment. With a 10,000-page indictment, Turkey’s longest indictment, the defendants were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment after Gürlek was appointed as the presiding judge shortly before the expiration of the maximum detention period, restricting their right to defense, rejecting all requests and violating numerous procedural elements of criminal proceedings. The court sentenced journalist Gültekin Avcı, who was on trial in the same case, to aggravated life imprisonment for “attempting, by force and violence, to overthrow the Government of the Republic of Turkey or to partially or completely prevent it from performing its duties.”
- At a hearing held at Istanbul 14th Assize Court in March 2021, the presiding judge Gürlek said to the defendant who requested recusal of the judge, “…I guess you wrote this beforehand, you prepared it, I guess this is the instruction to refuse. If you had said it at the beginning, there was no need to prolong it, okay… you are rejecting with instructions, with instructions…” and threatened the defendant who objected to the accusations of “instructions” with expulsion from the hearing on the grounds that he “did not comply with the peace and discipline of the hearing.”
Portable Guillotine
Akın Gürlek, the President of the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize, who did not recognize the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Enis Berberoğlu on the grounds that it “falls within the scope of the review of appropriateness”, was heavily criticized by the opposition, particularly the Republican People’s Party (CHP), and it was stated that Gürlek was used by the government as the “executioner of justice” and a “guillotine on wheels”.
CHP Group Deputy Chairman Özgür Özel stated the following at the General Assembly session of the Parliament dated 13.10.2020: “…today in this Assembly, with a decision made by the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize… Let’s give the name of a judge, let it go down in history, let it be recorded in the minutes: Akın Gürlek. Let Akın Gürlek know that he is the guillotine of justice, that today he is acting as a guillotine on behalf of someone and that together with the member executioners, the executioners of justice Mesut Özdemir and Şenol Kartal, they have signed one of the blackest decisions in the history of the Republic of Turkey; we entrust this to the minutes of the Supreme Assembly, we will not forget this… Today, with the hand of the executioner Akın Gürlek, with the hand of the executioner of justice Akın Gürlek, you have taken justice out of the state, you have gangsterized the state. ” and heavily criticized Gürlek with his statements.
CHP group deputy chair Özgür Özel made heavy criticisms about Gürlek once again at a press conference held at the Parliament on October 14, 2020. Özel claimed that ‘Gürlek, the President of the Istanbul 14th Court of Assize, is being moved from court to court as a guillotine on wheels by the palace regime and slaughtering the law,’ and added that he is the one who resisted the Constitutional Court in the Enis Berberoğlu decision. Akın Gürlek is behind every controversial decision in the last 2 years. “, he used the following expressions.
At the CHP Group Meeting of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on October 20, 2020, CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said the following about Akın Gürlek: “What does the court below say? Akın Gürlek; this is our new Zekeriya Öz, the president of the 14th Court of Assize, the new Zekeriya Öz. “What right, what law? Where did you get this from?” he says. “Send me all the dirty work,” he says. “Send me all the unfair files,” he says. “Don’t worry,” he says. “Just give me a wink and I’ll take care of it.” When a 10-year-old boy was raped in Erzurum, when a girl was raped, this gentleman was there. Barış Terkoğlu wrote a very good article in Cumhuriyet about this case. This Akın Gürlek is such a man. No justice can be expected from him. If you ask who is the man who murdered justice, his name is Akın Gürlek. That much is clear, that much! He is the new Zekeriya Öz. He is the new Zekeriya Öz.”
On the other hand, Anadolu Agency, the official news agency of the state, announced that Gürlek filed a lawsuit against CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and CHP Group Deputy Chairman Özgür Özel for compensation for their statements against him; Istanbul 24th Civil Court of First Instance decided to accept the lawsuit against Kılıçdaroğlu and Istanbul 7th Civil Court of First Instance decided to accept the lawsuit against Özel.
Furthermore, Şırnak MP Hüseyin Kaçmaz, who took the floor at the meeting of the Plan and Budget Committee of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on November 10, 2020, stated the following: “Will you initiate an investigation against Akın Gürlek, who is being taken from court to court in the same courthouse – which is now called a guillotine with legs – and who makes decisions in parallel with the government’s rhetoric in cases directly addressed by the government?”
HDP group deputy chair Meral Danış Beştaş also raised the allegations against Gürlek at a press conference held at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on November 23, 2020: Beştaş said, “Please let all of Turkey read about Akın Gürlek. Let everyone read how many courts, how many criminal decisions he has signed. Imagine such a judge; he listens to a witness at the Istanbul Criminal Court of Peace, on the same day he goes to the 26th Court of Assize and presides over it. On the same day, he listens to the witness and presides over another court to arrest the same witness. For some reason, this judge was appointed to that panel after the release of the ÇHD lawyers. For some reason, he presided over that court when Selahattin Demirtaş and Sırrı Süreyya Önder were about to be released. For some reason, the same judge goes and becomes the president of the court that will sentence Canan Kaftancıoğlu. Explain this! How many judges do you have like Akın Gürlek, how many mobile courts do you have, how do you plan which courts will sentence whom? Explain these. “, she said.
As can be seen from all these quotations and explanations, there is very serious evidence that Akın Gürlek has lost his independence and impartiality. Therefore, it is clear that the panel chaired by Akın Gürlek does not qualify as a court and its decision is not a legally valid decision.