Government-like court

Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 14, which has handed down a twenty-five year custodial sentence to CHP Istanbul MP Enis Berberoğlu on the count of espionage and ordered his detention, has announced its reasoned decision. The court, stressing in its decision that, ‘Freedom of the press cannot be spoken of where national security is involved,’ also made the way that the halting of the intelligence agency lorries was reported in our newspaper into grounds for the punishment. The court, arguing that by means of the report in question, ‘Insinuations were raised against President Tayyip Erdoğan and his trial in international courts was pushed for,’ stated that Berberoğlu also ‘acted with the political aim of harming Erdoğan and the government.’ It was stated in the reasoned decision that, on the date of the offence, ‘Enis Berberoğlu, a deputy general chair of the main opposition party and prospective member of parliament, had to attach greater importance and consideration than a normal citizen to the permanence, national security and interests of the state they were seeking to govern.’

Erdoğan was the target

Istanbul Serious Crime Court No 14 has drafted the reasons for its decision on Enis Berberoğlu. In the decision, it is stressed that the aim of Berberoğlu, who is alleged to have given images of the intelligence service lorries to Cumhuriyet’s former Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar, was, ‘With them being published in his newspaper by the defendant Can Dündar, to denigrate the ruling AK Party government and chiefly the President in the public eye through perception management taking the form, “Support in the form of arms is being given to terrorist organisations in Syria with intelligence agency lorries,” expose them to penal responsibility, open the way for prosecution, especially of the President, as a war criminal in the national and international arena and create the environment for this.’

With a political aim

The conclusion was reached in the decision that, ‘It has been ascertained that, with a ready-made environment involving the exposing of the intelligence agency lorries affair being conducive to this, through allegations that, “The President and government administrators support terrorism and finance terrorism,” their elimination was targeted by seeking their trial at the national and international level, the wish was at best to cause difficulties for the government prior to the election and prevent them from winning the election, the defendant Berberoğlu acted with the political aim of harming President Erdoğan and the government and, in order to give rise to civil and penal responsibility and prevent them from returning to power, had no qualms about providing Can Dündar, for the purpose of their being published and exposed, with images that required to remain confidential out of state national security considerations in domestic and external political terms and that required by their nature to be a state secret, and the defendants acted together with intent to conspire.’

Freedom of the press cannot be spoken of

In the decision, in which it is stated that despite it being obvious from the proceedings pending before Penal Chamber No 16 of the Court of Cassation and public announcements that the intelligence agency lorries affair was a matter of national security, and indication having been given that it would be detrimental to state security and domestic and external political interests for it to be disclosed and commented on, and also that freedom of the press cannot be spoken of where national security is involved, it is reported that many photographs relating to the affair and information about the materials were published by the defendant Can Dündar in the 29 May 2015 edition of the Cumhuriyet newspaper one week before the 7 June 2015 general elections. In the reasoned decision, in which it is noted that images were contained in a report in Aydınlık newspaper on 19 January 2014 two days after the lorries were stopped that were alleged to be artillery shells in one lorry and load compartment, and that apart from that no information, document or image was included, it is stated that, considering the manner in which Dündar presented the said report, the way the report was made so as to shake world public opinion and proclamations that it was being published for the first time, information, documents and images having the nature of state secrets that required to remain confidential out of state security or domestic and external political interest considerations, despite not previously having been made public as they had not been published, were published for the first time by the defendant.