The first session of the trial of deceased journalist Nuh Köklü who was stabbed while playing snowball with his friends in Kadıköy district of Istanbul was held today in İstanbul 5th High Criminal Court.
Defendants Serkan Azizoğlu and Nazım Coşanar, journalist Köklü’s acquaintances, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) İzmir deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Vice President Gürsel Tekin, CHP İstanbul deputy Barış Yarkadaş and Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) Co-Chair Alper Taş participated in the trial.
“I don’t remember the rest”
Defendant Serkan Azizoğlu told:
“I don’t accept the accusations. They threw snowballs to my shop’s window which is big and expensive. I said ‘don’t throw’ and returned to the shop. They kept throwing. I grabbed a bat and then a knife from the shop since they started to beat and swear at me. Someone said: “Ouch!” I don’t remember the rest.”
Upon the question whether he remembered the moment of stabbing or not, defendant Azizoğlu said he didn’t remember the rest of it and he didn’t kill journalist Köklü but Köklü fell on the knife.
“Tradesman is a tradesman, police is a police”
Attorney Mehmet Ümit Erdem asked defendant Azizoğlu:
“The President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said ‘tradesmen is a police if it’s needed and so a hero’. Did you take these words as an example? Why did you not wait for the police to come instead of punishing the opposite side by yourself?”
Azizoğlu answered:
“Tradesman is a tradesman, police is a police. If I had called the police, they would have come too late. I didn’t punish anybody, on the contrary I was battered.”
Letter to Erdoğan: Nuh Köklü was a “Gezi protester”
Attorney Erdem made a statement after the trial:
“Defendant Azizoğlu’s brother wrote a letter to the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The letter mentions Nuh Köklü was a ‘Gezi Park protester’ and Azizoğlu’s brother said they were members of a religious sect and they were asking for help from the president.”
The court decided that next session would be held on October 21, 2015, and in the meantime defendant Azizoğlu’s detention would continue. Witnesses and complainants will be heard and the records of the incident will be watched in the next session.
What happened?
On the night of February 17, 15 activists from Yeldeğirmeni Solidarity Group including Nuh Köklü held a protest with masks in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district against the draft of Turkey’s new Homeland Security Act.
According to Yeldeğirmeni Solidarity Group, the incident took place as follows:
“A snowball hit a spice shop window in Karakolhane Street. The shop waiter lost his temper and shouted to the group even though they tried to calm him. Later on, he ran back into the shop shouting ‘I will take my gun and kill you all. I have a medical report. I will go out of prison the day after.’
“The shop waiter attacked the group with a baseball bat. The group took the bat from his hands. Then he went back into the shop and assaulted again with a knife. He attacked towards a woman and another person whose jacket was torn.
“When the aggressor has cornered somebody near the trash bin, Nuh Köklü went for help. Having fallen off, Köklü was stabbed in his chest.
“After the neighborhood dwellers protested the aggressor, shop windows were broken. It has nothing to do with throwing snowballs.”
Who is Nuh Köklü?
Nuh Köklü worked as editor at bianet between 2002 and 2003. Having lived abroad for a while, he then started working in Sabah newspaper. On 13 February 2009, he was one of the ATV-Sabah media workers who started a strike. A former workplace representative at Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), Köklü was one of the 10 journalists who were laid off after the strike. In May 2014, he was also laid off from NTV (AS/BD)
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