German Foundations Case: Accusation Rejected

Eleven defendants were present at the hearing held at the Ankara State Security Court (DGM). A total of 15 defendants are being charged with "cooperating against the security of the state," based on article 171 of the Turkish penal code. Eight of the defendants are German nationals. They all face eight to 15 years in prison.

All the defendants pledged that they did not know each other and rejected to have formed an "alliance." They said all their operations were of public knowledge.

The next hearing will be on January 30, 2003. The court decided to hold the defendants exempt of the next hearing.

Demand of "acquittal without trial"

During the first session in the morning, the court rejected a series of pretensions and demands by the defendant lawyers. The lawyers claimed that the DGMs were against the Constitution; demanded that the hearings are video monitored because the trial is a historic one; that the lawyers are tried after getting permission from the Justice Ministry in line with the Lawyers' Law, and that they are acquitted without a trial because of the current evidences.

"I am the lawyer of many people here," said Senih Ozay, who is a defendant, and also a representative of the villagers of Bergama. "For that reason, I would like to be able to represent my clients after the inquiries. But Orhan Karadeniz, the head of the court, rejected Ozay's demand.

Over 100 lawyers defend

Necip Hablemitoglu, an academician at the Ankara University, who was assassinated two weeks ago, had written a book named, "German Foundations and the Bergama File." In this book, Hablemitoglu claimed that some German foundations operating in Turkey, supported the villagers for the interests of Germany. This book will be used as evidence during the trial. About 150 defendant lawyers will be following the case. Court's head Karadeniz decided that the German defendants give their depositions via two translators.

The German Embassy, and some other embassies in Ankara are following the case. The non-governmental organizations (NGO) Open Society Institution, Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV), Human Rights Association (IHD), Helsinki Citizens' Association (HYD), Turkish Engineers and Architects Chambers' Union (TMMOB), European Union (EU) Turkish representative Sema Kilicer, and Ionna Kucuradi, head of the Philosophy Department of the Hacettepe University, were present at the hearing. Local and international media showed high interest in the case.

11 defendants at the hearing

Wulf Schonbohm of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, his assistant Dirk Trondle, Fugen Fatma Ugur of the Heinrich Boll Foundation, Hans Schumaher of the Frederich Ebert Foundation, Orientalism Institution head Claus Schonig and his assistants Astrid Menz and Borte Sagaster, Petra Aauerland of the Foodfirst Information Action Network (FIAN), former head of the Istanbul bar, Yucel Sayman, Oktay Konyar, representing the Bergama villagers, lawyer Senih Ozay of the Izmir Bar, were present at the hearing at the Ankara DGM.

Wolfgang Sachsenroder of the Frederich Naumann Foundation, FIAN representative Birsel Lemke, Sefa Taskin, the former Bergama mayor, and Ozcan Durmaz, who is said to cooperate with Lemke and Konyar, did not attend the hearing.

Debate about the indictment before depositions

According to the lawyers, there was a discussion about the indictment before the depositions, for the first time.

A group of lawyers including Fikret Ilkiz, Ergin Cinmen and Mehmet Ucum, demanded an acquittal because there is no right to reject the indictment in the Turkish judicial system.

The lawyers also said that "according to the Lawyers' Law, the court should obtain permission from the Justice Ministry" before trying the lawyers. "It is against the law to try the lawyers," they said, and claimed that the DGMs were against the Constitution.

Senih Ozay, one of the defendants, presented to court a 1,537-page text called, "What am I, What are We, Spies?"

Why are they rejecting this indictment?

The defendants are being charged with "espionage." The charges are based on article 171 of the Turkish penal code.

Yucel Sayman delivered a long speech after the lawyers. Sayman said 1,800 lawyers were defending him and asked, "Why am I being tried in this case?"

Sayman said that the defendants would know each other if the "secret cooperation" pretensions were true. He said he saw most of the defendants for the first time in his life during the hearing.

Sayman said he wanted to see the evidences of the accusations leading to the trial. He continued:

"I am asking. What is the evidence demonstrating I am a spy? This is a violation of my personal rights," said Sayman. "As the Istanbul bar, we took joint decisions with the board of directors of the Heinrich Boll Foundation. Where are the members of the board of directors? There are over a hundred members at the Human Rights Center of the Istanbul bar. There are not here either. It does not say that I delivered a speech during any of the meetings addressed by the indictment. I am a silent guy according to this indictment. So, did I form a secret alliance by keeping silent?"

"I am against the DGMs," said Oktay Kaynar, a defendant, and the representative of the villagers of Bergama. "But we fought for a cause, and I am happy that the DGM came to recognize this too." (NM/BB)