The court has ruled that the seven students should be acquitted because the act they were charged with was not defined as a crime in the law

CANSU PİŞKİN, İSTANBUL

The 14th hearing in the trial of seven students who are charged with “inciting the public to hatred and enmity” was held at the İstanbul 21st Criminal Court of First Instance on 9 May 2025.

The defendants did not attend the hearing, but their lawyers were present. P24 monitored the hearing.

The prosecutor repeated their final opinion on the case they had presented at the hearing held on 27 September 2024. In the opinion, although the defendants were charged with “inciting the public to hatred and hostility,” it was stated that the defendants' actions constituted the crime of “publicly denigrating religious values embraced by a segment of the public,” and it was requested that the seven students be punished for this charge.

The lawyer for defendant Doğu Demirtaş stated, “There is no evidence that my client posted the work in question. Witness statements also confirm this. There is no real concrete danger. The material and moral elements of the crime have not formed. We request acquittal.”

The lawyer for defendant Hazar Kolancalı requested acquittal, stating that there was no evidence that his client had committed the alleged crime or had intent. The lawyer for defendant Mahmut Can Bodrumlu also requested acquittal for his client on the grounds that the elements of the crime did not form.

The lawyer for defendant Selahattin Uğuzeş said, “The only thing in this case that insults the values of the people is the news report in the Yeni Şafak newspaper. It incited the people to hatred and hostility against the LGBT community. I request that your court file a criminal complaint regarding the news report in the Yeni Şafak newspaper.”

The lawyers for defendants Sena Nur Baş, Rumeysa Özüyağlı, and Eda Kalafat also requested the acquittal of their clients on the grounds that the elements of the alleged crime were not present.

Since the defendants were not present in the courtroom, their lawyers were asked for their final statements. The defense lawyers reiterated their requests for acquittal.

The court ruled that all seven students should be acquitted because the act in question is not defined as a crime in the law.

About the case

Students launched protests after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed Prof. Dr. Melih Bulu as rector to Boğaziçi University. As part of the protests, an exhibition was opened in South Campus. The exhibition included an image of the Kaaba with a depiction of Şahmeran on it and LGBT+ flags around it.

The image began circulating on social media following a series of tweets shared by the Boğaziçi University Islamic Studies Club on 29 January 2021. On the same day, the Yeni Şafak newspaper published a post on its Twitter account targeting students with statements referring to the image in question.

Following the criticism of the students by MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli and Religious Affairs President Ali Erbaş on Twitter, the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation on the same day on the charge of “publicly denigrating religious values embraced by a segment of the public.”

Doğu Demirtaş and Selahattin Can Uğuzeş, who were detained on the same day, were imprisoned pending trial on 30 January 2021, and both students were placed under house arrest.

In the indictment filed against seven students on 24 February 2021, the LGBT+ flag placed on the image of the Kaaba was described as “an image related to homosexuality and similar sexual orientations, which are considered forbidden and haram in Islamic literature.”

The indictment stated that the act was “inciting hatred and hostility between a social group known as LGBT+ and Muslim citizens, who constitute the majority of Turkish society, against a segment of the population with different social characteristics.”

The indictment was accepted by the İstanbul 21st Criminal Court of First Instance.

Demirtaş and Uğuzeş were released at the first hearing on 17 March 2025.