Senior judge says chaos in Turkey ‘would benefit us’ in alleged recording

If the voices do indeed belong to court's members Hamdi Yaver Aktan and Yusuf Uluç, who are respectively the heads of the 8th Criminal Chamber and 8th Legal Chamber, this would mean that shady jurists in the background have actually played a role in the Peace and Democracy Party's (BDP) decision to boycott the referendum. A third person's voice, allegedly that of judge Fatih Aktan, is also heard in one of three recordings posted yesterday on the website dailymotion.com.

The recordings, two of which appear to be part of the same conversation, suggest that the BDP's boycott decision came after Turgut Kazan – a lawyer who defends various suspects in the case against Ergenekon, a self-named organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government – had talks with BDP President Selahattin Demirtaş. The two speakers in the recording praise the BDP for not being religious, for having left-wing administrators and being close to the Republican People's Party (CHP). The speakers say that the CHP should help the BDP during the referendum process. The speakers also make shocking remarks about the jailed leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan, saying, “Öcalan is greatly needed in this process.” They further say that if a “yes” comes out of the referendum package vote Sept. 12, that “will be our end.”

This comes after another voice recording that went public in May, between two members of the Supreme Court of Appeals, revealed plans to free Erzincan Chief Public Prosecutor İlhan Cihaner – who was arrested in February on charges of membership in a criminal gang – from prison.

One of the alleged speakers in that voice recording is also Hamdi Yaver Aktan, who is talking to another high court member, Fatih Arkan. In that recording, Aktan tells Arkan that he told Supreme Court of Appeals judge Ersan Ülker that he would become the head of the Supreme Court of Appeals if he ensured that two cases against Cihaner were merged and that he was freed from prison. The same topic is also taken up in the conversation that was posted online yesterday. In the recording, the voice allegedly belonging to Hamdi Yaver Aktan says the judges involved in saving Cihaner were intimidated. He also says Kadir Özbek (deputy head of YARSAV), Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya (The Supreme Court of Appeals’ chief prosecutor) and Yusuf Uluç are three candidates for the first presidency of the Supreme Court of Appeals.

The two also say that they should make sure that the Higher Election Council (YSK) holds the referendum later. Although it was not clear when the recording was taped, in late May the YSK rejected the government’s request to hold the referendum in July and rolled it over to Sept. 12 instead.

In the recording, the voices that allegedly belong to Hamdi Yaver Aktan and this time to Supreme Court of Appeals member Fatih Arkan complain that if a “yes” comes out of the referendum, that would be the end of “everything,” as the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) will not be allowed to “do anything” after that point. The government’s constitutional amendment package to be voted on Sept. 12 also makes changes to the structure of the HSYK.

And most shockingly, the two speakers talk about cooperation with the terrorist PKK. The voice that allegedly belongs to Hamdi Yaver Aktan says, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is “much needed” in the run-up to the referendum to make sure that the Kurds vote against the package. In one part of the conversation, the voice that allegedly belongs to Hamdi Yaver Aktan is heard saying, “Now look, the Kurds will push to get what they want. The constitution, everything should go into chaos. I will benefit from that chaos.”

Excerpts from the conversation. The alleged owners of the voices are indicated as HYA (Hamdi Yaver Aktan) and Yusuf Uluç (YU).

YU: [Former CHP leader] Deniz Baykal is late, he lost his credibility. He left the nation alone in his time. I don’t think he can do much.

HYA: You know this, BDP, this is a very important party. We talked about this recently with Turgut Kazan. He talked to [Selahattin] Demirtaş. He said they will seriously badger you with the KCK (the urban arm of the PKK). A large number of BDP members have been arrested in police operations into the KCK.” They made that statement [that they are boycotting the referendum] after that. They said, “We won’t be part of attempts to politicize the judiciary.”

YU: Let me tell you what, actually the CHP should help out the BDP.

HYA: Certainly.

YU: It should draw it closer to itself. There is nothing to be afraid.

HYA: Former deputies..

YU: And 99.9 percent of these are pro-CHP social democrats

HYA: Sure

YU: They are not the... the religious of the Kurds

HYA: Turgut Bey [Kazan] talked to these, went to their group meetings. I told him to...do...if the referendum is rejected, this is how it can be. This is very important, I told him. There is no step back from here.