4 February 2025
Cumhuriyet columnist Barış Pehlivan appeared in court in the case filed upon the complaint of Court of Cassation member and former Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Yüksel Kocaman.
The case was opened against Pehlivan on charges of “defamation” (Turkish Penal Code, Article 267) and “insult through an audio, written or visual message” (Article 125/2), based on his article titled “I am revealing the killers,” published in Cumhuriyet on 22 September 2023. The second hearing of the trial was held at the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance, where Pehlivan was present with his lawyer Enes Hikmet Ermaner.
Starting his defense by saying, “I did not start journalism yesterday,” Pehlivan noted, “In 2018, a businessman was murdered in the heart of the capital. In my book Cendere, I recounted all the details of this murder process. Everything I wrote in this column had already been written five years earlier. When I wrote even more extensively about it in my book, Yüksel Kocaman did not react. Why am I here now for writing less?”
Referring to the article in question, Pehlivan stated, “If the article contains an accusation that Yüksel Kocaman took bribes, then end this trial today. I did not accuse Kocaman of taking bribes. I had no such expression or claim. This indictment should never have been accepted.”
Pehlivan added, “I have been trying for 22 years. As a journalist, I have the right to express my suspicions about why this murder file was closed. Since I am faced with such a trial, I request that Ali İhsan Akdoğan and Burhan Tezcan be heard as witnesses. Let his former colleagues question me, and then it will be clear whether what I wrote was false.”
The court decided to inquire with the Secretariat General of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) whether any administrative investigation had been initiated concerning the incidents and judicial figures mentioned in the article. If such an investigation exists, the court requested that relevant information and documents be submitted without violating confidentiality. The case was adjourned until 8 July 2025.
