01/06/2022 | Writer: Yıldız Tar
After many years, one more witness was called to Esat-Eryaman case. The witness, said that he did not remember anything just like the others, heaven knows why. The case was postponed October 18, at 14.00 pm.
The sixth hearing of the case, in which four people from the gang are being judged on the grounds of assault trans women in Ankara, in 2006, was held today (May 31). The case, which has been shuttling between Supreme Court and the other courts for more than 10 years and resulted in a sentence against the attackers, is being heard again following the reversal of the judgement by the Supreme Court.
The trial at the 30th Ankara Criminal Court was held in the great hall upon the request of the attorneys of trans women. About fifty LGBTI+ right defenders followed the hearing with the call of Pink Life LBGTI+ Solidarity Association.
Attorneys found the address which couldn’t be found by Çankaya Police Department
The trial began with the hearing of witness Ali Bülbül. Bülbül said that he didn’t recognize neither suspects nor the victims related to the case. It was revealed that a phone card belonging to Ali Bülbül, had been inserted into the phone of a trans woman, who had been extorted in a hairdresser in 2007. Bülbül answered that he bought a second hand phone upon the question about the issue.
Then Att. Senem Doğanoğlu asked Bülbül where he had been living between 2006 and 2007. Bülbül said that he had been living in Sincan with his family. Reminding him the phone number registered in the name of him Bülbül said: “I don’t remember the phone number.” And he admitted that he might have inserted his phone car into the phone of someone else by saying, “That may be, days gone by, it was years go.”
Att. Doğanoğlu, asked if he knows the person called via phone by uttering the names one by one. Bülbül answered in the same manner for each name: “I don’t know.” Following the answers Bülbül was taken out of the hall.
Att. Doğanoğlu underlined that she reached one of the wanted person, while Çankaya Police Department was not able to find him and said: “We don’t know why Çankaya Police Deparment cannot find him.”
Emphasizing that she had a connection with Şammas Taşdemir and the people relevant to him were called via the phone belonging to him, Doğanoğlu said:
“An usurped phone is being used for one and a half day, and then it is sold. Chief Republic Prosecutor’s Office should make a denunciation. The person, who used Ali Bülbül’s personal identifying information, should be identified. It was emphasized that there were more people who got involved in crime so more people have to be judged on the grounds of looting and starting a gang within the context of the previous verdict given. After many years we were hardly able to reach only one person. The usurped phone is being used by him.”
Defendant Şammas Taşdemir entered the hearing room in the middle of the trial. Att. Doğanoğlu requested to take Ali Bülbül in and Bülbül got in. Upon the question of the judge : “Have you ever met this person?” pointing toward Taşdemir, Bülbül replied: “I have never met him before, except the door entrance here.” The case was postponed to October, 14, at 14.00 pm.
The witness at the fourth hearing, had not either “remembered”
A woman nominated Gülcan, who was Ayhan Günay’s girlfriend at that period, also participated in the fourth hearing, held in December 14, 2021, both as a suspect and a witness. Having attempted to attack the woman in the hearing room, Günay was was taken out of the hall. Günay’s testimony, in which she told what she knows related to looting, sharp object injury, and assault, was read. The witness confirmed that the vehicle, which was there during the attacks at the hairdresser in Esat, belonged to Ayhan Günay. While she was referring as “my husband with imam marriage” to Günay in the written testimony, she disclaimed it at the hearing. The witness told that she knew the attackers, except Şammas Taşdemir. She mentioned that she did not get involved in the attacks. She said “I don’t know” as a response to attorney Senem Doğanoğlu’s question regarding whether the attackers racketeer from trans women or not. She also refused that she was with Ayhan Günay during the attacks. Att. Doğanoğlu also asked how could the attackers know the victim trans women: “How does Ayhan Günay know these attacked women? Likewise how do Harun Çardak and Şammas Günay know these women? If not through you, how do they know them?” Witness Gülcan replied: “I was also on tiles at that period but I don’t know. I have no information about it.” Then the witness went out under police escort.
What happened in the case?
In April 2006, a gang attacked trans women in Eryaman, Ankara. Many trans women were forced to leave their homes in Eryaman. Some of them changed cities, some moved to the Esat District of Ankara. The attacks continued in Esat.
The establishment of the Pink Life Association was an attempt of an organization against these attacks. The trans women who were attacked filed a criminal complaint, charges were pressed. The case that was monitored by lawyers Senem Doğanoglu and Hakan Yıldırım was concluded in 2008. One of the defendants, Şammas Taşdemir, was sentenced to 45 months for wounding with a weapon during a raid on a hairdresser that was frequently used by trans women; The other defendants, Harun Çardak and Ahmet Günay were sentenced to 40 months each, and Ahmet Günay for 34 months for wounding with a weapon against trans women in the Kurtuluş District of Ankara.
The court ruled that the attackers were qualified as gangs, but sentences were all from the lowest limit. There was no sentence for the allegations of pillaging. The verdict was appealed.
Since 2008, the judicial process has turned into a labyrinth. The Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the verdict in 2011. In the meanwhile, the courts that handled the case changed. With the changes in the Criminal Procedure Code, the case went back and forth between the courts. Finally, in 2018, the case went to the Supreme Court of Appeals, again.
Verdict to overturn stated the attackers should be investigated on their gang qualifications, and demanded an investigation regarding the phone call records. The 30th High Criminal Court also complied with the Supreme Court of Appeals' decision and asked the Information Technology and Communications Authority (BTK) for information on whether the attackers communicated with each other.
The case will be re-heard, but the case is in danger of being timed out.
Endless chase of justice: Eryaman-Esat case
The Eryaman-Esat case has become an endless game of chase due to the changes in the judicial system. The attackers were sentenced in 2008 for extortion, wounding, and wounding as part of organizational activity, but were not convicted of looting. The decision included the definition of 'a gang that came together with thoughts triggered by social prejudices'.
Both the attackers and the trans women who were attacked appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court overturned the decision, saying that 'the court has to make a judgment on looting'. The process after the Supreme Court's overturn decision is a complicated story. With the changes in the legislation, the case has been going back and forth between the courts for years. Att. Doğanoğlu explains this process as follows:
“There were courts authorized with Article 250 of the Turkish Penal Code, but they are now removed. Then they said that it was necessary to appeal to the general court, then those established with TPC Article 10 came into force, and it was said that they have the authority. The case went back and forth too many times. At the end of 2018, with a very absurd justification, the case was returned to the 30th High Criminal Court of Ankara. The reason was that a defendant was not notified. They returned the case because they couldn't locate a person's procuration. After all those transfers the case probably is not intact now. After years, we filed the procuration again, and the case was back on the Supreme Court of Appeals. Then the Supreme Court overturned the decision and the trials began from the beginning…”
What happened in Eryaman and Esat?
Senem Doğanoğlu explains the attacks on trans women and their forced migration as follows:
“The reason the case is called Eryaman is that the events did take place in Eryaman, but in fact, the case that we're talking about right now includes the events that took place in Esat. The construction industry was on a rise in Eryaman, and organized gang attacks against trans women living there began. Over time, the men hired by these construction companies increased attacks on trans women as a gang, in cooperation with the police. After a while, the paramilitary force started saying 'you will pay tribute to us'. But the main goal was to exile. Many of the girls fled to Mersin when the attacks on the houses began. Another group settled in Esat.
“We were able to make a case about Şammas Taşdemir in Eryaman. Dilek İnce, who was killed in 2008, was among the complainants. We also monitored a case in which Şammas Taşdemir was tried for property damage. Şammas was sentenced, but it was converted into a fine. He paid. The decision was finalized and over. He was sentenced to a criminal sentence and the motivations of the attackers were not investigated.
“Law enforcement did not take any action for a very long time when the Esat events started simultaneously. It turned into a process where every night someone gets hurt, properties are getting damaged, people were getting threats over phone calls, and that's the time when the shroud demonstrations started. 'If this violence is not prevented we are going on hunger strike,' they said.
“Silent protests began where LGBTI+ organizations and women's organizations participated, and after a while, the police of Çankaya District of Ankara called us. In short, it was a process in which social pressure was very effective, without social pressure, no one would have instructed The Çankaya police on the issue.
“They were assaulting, wounding people. There were raids on hairdressers. Again, damaging vehicles was very common. There were a lot of incidents at night where they get out of their vehicles with machetes on their hands, run onto the girls, and wounding them. We gathered all these incidents together. Complaints were collected from the victims one by one. Then the perpetrators were all picked up. They've been arrested and the trial process has begun.
“The case was first filed in the general court. It was subsequently transferred to the High Criminal Court due to the allegations of looting. At the first trial, most of the girls came and reported their complaints. They talked about the incidents in detail. In the first trial, we explained that it was an organized crime and that they were a gang. We also changed the face of the courthouse at that time. It was important to see the subject there, to see a subject seeking their right, to see what was legitimate.”
Translation: Selma Koçak
Tags: human rights, women
