A Kocaeli engineer, identified by his initials M.K., has reportedly told the judge in charge that he will stand trial for his decision to sentence the former to nearly 7 years in jail on terror charges, media said Monday.
“Dear judge, I didn’t get this sentence. You sentenced yourself. When the democracy and the rule of law come to this country (Turkey) one day, you will be responsible for this [decision.] I will be watching you in this courtroom and spit on your face,” M.K. told the judge after his conviction was announced.
Under arrest for some time over alleged links to the Gülen movement, M.K. was given 6 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison on charges of membership to “an armed terror group.”
M.K. was escorted out of the courtroom by gendarmerie and the judge overseeing the case ordered another investigation into M.K.’s words during the final hearing.
M.K.’s engineering license was earlier revoked by the government over alleged ties with the Gülen movement.
A total of 48,305 people were arrested by courts across Turkey in 2017 over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, said Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on Tuesday. “The number of detentions is nearly three times higher,” Soylu told a security meeting in İstanbul and claimed that “Even these figures are not enough to reveal the severity of the issue.”
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. Turkey’s Interior Minister announced on December 12, 2017 that 55,665 people have been arrested. Previously, on December 13, 2017, The Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (SCF with turkeypurge.com)
