Hikmet Çetinkaya's defence – full text

Here is Hikmet Çetinkaya's defence:

I am a journalist. I started work at Cumhuriyet newspaper in 1966. I have been at Cumhuriyet newspaper for 51 years. I will never deviate from the principles of a secular, democratic, law-based state.

I have reported news and conducted interviews in all areas of life. I continue to serve as a columnist on the paper. One of the first important reports of mine was on Fethullah Gülen. I could convince nobody that he had set up his formation that started in Bornova and his appointment as preacher at Izmir Kestanepazarı Mosque and was organising in the Akevler Construction Cooperative, Yaman High School, Maltepe Military Acadamy and the Işıklar and Kuleli High Schools with false health reports, and they did not want to believe it. All ruling political parties said how innocent the brotherhood was and how wrong I was. They brought penal proceedings against me for opposing the ‘Esteemed Teacher’ in my writing.

In the years in which I reported on his formations in the police, judiciary and education, Turkey did not know him. Gülen was tried under notorious Article 163 of the Turkish Penal Code in the 12 March period charged with overthrowing the secular, democratic, law-based state and establishing an Islamic state. He was convicted, escaped with a pardon and they forgot.

I have been a defendant and been on trial in many penal proceedings. Gülen constantly submitted complaint petitions about me and filed suits for damages. But, we as Cumhuriyet Newspaper continued undauntedly to write. For years, we pointed out the magnitude of the threat he posed for the Republic of Turkey. We exposed the true face of this imam who until 15 July 2016 was getting a pension from the state. When we wrote about his formation in America named the golden generation, nobody saw what was going on. We have not been among the journalists who were invited to the openings of schools opened abroad. We were not among the journalists who sang Gülen's praises. They were hot on our heels for years and we paid no heed. But, we exposed their true faces and conducted journalism. We were constantly threatened by those who paid no attention to our reports and news.

Now, thanks to an indictment in front of us speaking of ‘publications of Cumhuriyet newspaper aimed at bestowing legitimacy on the acts of armed terrorist organisations (FETÖ/PDY, PKK/KCK, DHKP-C),’ I and my colleagues stand charged with committing the crime of while not being a member of a terrorist organisation aiding the organisation.

Their foundation invited me and I went. This single visit is deemed to be a crime. I have not said or written anywhere that Gülen is not a terrorist organisation. If the prosecutors are curious, the news and columns I wrote were quoted in the State Security Court prosecutor’s Gülen indictment. They can find and read it. Gülen was tried for establishing and managing an organisation thanks to opinions of mine that I had put forward. I am now being tried for aiding and abetting FETO in the indictment of prosecutors who have forgotten the past.

My writing and news reports are my defence against and interrogation of the indictment. I reject such an indictment that flies in the face of the normal course of affairs on behalf of myself, my writing, my deeds and my newspaper. I request that the court render a decision to acquit me.