Gerçeker spoke to the press during a ceremony yesterday commemorating the Council of State attack, which took place on May 17, 2006. Slain judge Mustafa Yücel Özbilgin’s family, members of the Council of State, members of the Supreme Court of Appeals, Supreme Court of Appeals Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) Deputy Chairman Kadir Özbek and members of the Constitutional Court were in attendance.In response to a question on recently revealed evidence that suggests security camera records from the day of the attack may have been purposefully deleted by employees of the OYAK security company, a private firm affiliated with the military and in charge of security at the Council of State, he said: “We don’t know. It is impossible to say anything before the investigation is concluded. In the end, we lost a person, a colleague who was at the top of his career. This is something very bad. Of course this will be investigated and the truth will come out -- and it has to because there is no other way to fight such centers of evil.”
Turgut Candan, head of the Seventh Chamber of the Council of State, delivered a speech at the ceremony. He said: “You know what Mustafa? The reason behind the bullets fired at you and your colleagues was not the headscarf. It was Ergenekon. They speak of these claims frequently these days. Let’s suppose that it was Ergenekon that sent the hand that fired the bullet. Does this change the fact that this attack was staged by the atmosphere created by some media organs that showed you and your colleagues as a target?”
A slideshow presentation showing Özbilgin’s life story followed a minute of silence and the national anthem. Özbilgin’s family and Council of State members were unable to hold back tears during the slide presentation.
There was a protest outside the building during the commemoration ceremony. Justice Platform President Adem Çevik protested with rotten fish and salt. In a speech he gave, Çevik said institutions such as the HSYK, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the Constitutional Court were starting to stink like fish gone bad. He then poured salt on separate pieces of paper denoting the institutions he was protesting.
He said the Council of State shooting was part of a coup d’état plan. “We invite the friends of coup planning devils to leave this country, to resign from their posts and to make amends,” Çevik said.
He said Turkey has been under military rule for the past 50 years. “The junta occupiers hanged the prime minister. They banned the Quran and the headscarf. They kicked those who pray and those who have wives wearing headscarves out of the military. Our nation will never find peace until malicious coup d’état stagers answer for their deeds.”
