While 25 people, including specialised sergeants and non-commissioned officers, who are defendants in the indictment prepared on the "prostitution gang" that emerged in Şirnex (Şırnak), are tried without arrest, non-commissioned officer Mustafa Yalçın, specialised sergeants Ertaç Kaya and Hüseyin Şahin are still on duty.  On 20 December 2024, in the first hearing, the soldiers who were on trial as defendants made confessions about the prostitution gang, while specialist sergeant Halil T, who was heard as a witness, gave the names of other soldiers in his testify.

 

It was noteworthy that Mustafa Yalçın and Ertaç Kaya, who made defence statements in the hearing, confessed that they used their military identities to pass the prostituted women through the search points without any problems, and that they were still on duty despite the documents, tapes, images and physical surveillance. Specialised sergeant Halil T, who was heard as a witness in the first hearing, said that expert sergeant Hıdır D, who raped HB, one of the children, also acted as an intermediary for the gang for prostitution. However, despite Halil T's confessions, Hıdır D was not among the defendants in the case.

 

YALÇIN: WE BROUGHT THEM FROM CI·ZRE TO ŞIRNAK

 

Defendant non-commissioned officer Mustafa Yalçın stated that he was a military personnel and his monthly income was approximately 80 thousand TL. Yalçın said, "I started to work as a non-commissioned officer in Beytüşşebap in September 2012. Ertaç Kaya is my friend from the military. On 23 or 24 September 2013, Sevgi told Ertaç that he wanted to pick up a friend from Cizre and Ertaç asked me to do so and we went to Cizre with my vehicle. We were searched on the way to and from Cizre and stopped at a checkpoint. I certainly did not show my military ID at the checkpoint. When we returned to Şırnak, we entered the same house with women named Sevgi and Derya. The women said they had work and left the house. We left the house after resting with Ertaç for a few hours."

 

The prosecution stated that it was determined in the statements in the file, interception and recording of communication activities that Yalçın, knowing the functioning of the organisation, helped to bring women to Şirnex by using his identity, took part in the organisation, and was in contact with the executive cadres of the organisation. Yalçın is on trial on the charges of "Encouraging or Enabling a Person to Engage in Prostitution, Mediating or Providing a Place for Prostitution, Human Trafficking, Knowingly and Willingly Aiding the Organisation".

 

KAYA: I USED MY MILITARY IDENTITY

 

Specialised sergeant Ertaç Kaya said that he was a military personnel and confessed to prostitution and stated that his monthly income was 80 thousand TL. He said, "Mustafa Yalçın is my friend from the military. I met Meral Akın (Teker) through a taxi driver. The taxi driver's name was Remzi. I met Meral at that time and had a relationship with her in exchange for money. In September 2013, when I was in Şırnak on my return from leave, Meral Akın called me and told me that a friend of hers was coming from Cizre and that she wanted to go with me to pick her up. In other words, she asked for my help. On the way to Cizre and on the way back, we were stopped by law enforcement officers at a checkpoint, and in both searches I showed my military ID as I had a gun on me. Thereupon, we stayed in the same house with the individuals in Şırnak." Kaya is on trial on the charges of "Encouraging or Enabling a Person to Engage in Prostitution, or Acting as an Intermediary or Providing a Place for Prostitution, Human Trafficking, Knowingly and Willingly Aiding an Organisation".

 

Specialised sergeant Hüseyin Şahin, one of the defendants in the case, did not receive the notification because he was not at his residence.  Şahin is on trial for "Human Trafficking, Being a Member of an Organisation Established for the Purpose of Committing a Crime".

 

STATEMENTS OF A WOMAN DRAGGED INTO PROSTITUTION

 

AA, one of the women forced into prostitution, described the activities of the prostitution gang one by one in her testimony at the first hearing. A A said, "I came to Şırnak by bus, I was met by people who said they were soldiers. They took me to Meral (Meral Akın). For about 10 days, prostitution was carried out with male persons arranged by Meral in places such as cars, houses or abandoned areas. Meral was taking the money. She was also giving some to me. Meral was even giving some of this money to a person named Kenan Tatar. In return for this money, Kenan Tatar was protecting and looking after the women employed by Meral."

 

A.A. said that Meral Akın and specialised sergeant Mustafa Yalçın picked her up from the bus station when she arrived in Cizîr and that Yalçın showed her military ID when she passed through the checkpoint. "Meral sometimes made us work and did not pay us. When we passed through the checkpoint, Mustafa showed his military ID and we passed without any problems."

 

TOMORROW: Women react to special war policies

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut