Savaş Çelik was first detained in Lebanon and handed over to the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT). For three months he was held in an unknown location, without any official record, and subjected to intense and systematic torture. Although official documents later claimed that he was “coincidentally” apprehended by gendarmerie forces during a road checkpoint in Muş (Mûş), the Ministry of Interior publicly announced that he had actually been captured abroad in a MIT operation.
When the citizen named Savaş Çelik was detained by Lebanese authorities and handed over to MIT, the date was April 2022. However, in the statement released by Anadolu Agency, MIT claimed that Çelik had been captured in July during a road checkpoint in Muş. What happened to him in the three-month period between and the unlawful practices he endured, only became known once his trial began.
Savaş Çelik’s life changed after the attack on Gendarmerie Major Arslan Kulaksız on 27 July 2015 in Muş. Çelik was among those detained in the first wave of operations following the incident. He was released after the initial investigation, yet harassment from soldiers continued.
Facing pressure from soldiers and village guards, Çelik left for Syria with his family. After staying there for a while, he moved to Lebanon with the intention of travelling on to Europe. During his time in Lebanon, he was detained by Lebanese police on allegations of “theft.”
His family was initially told that he would be released shortly. Instead, it later emerged that Lebanese authorities secretly handed him over to members of MIT. Three months after this handover in April 2022, MIT had the press publish a story titled “The last perpetrator of the Major Kulaksız incident has been captured.”
But what happened to Çelik during those three months when no one heard from him?
Months of torture that began in Lebanon and continued in Turkey
The torture against Savaş Çelik began in Lebanon. Lebanese police subjected him not only to beatings and psychological abuse, but also to manipulation. During the 24 days he was held in Lebanon, Çelik was systematically exposed to physical violence.
On 24 April, at the Lebanon Airport, he was handed over to members of the MIT with his hands and eyes bound.
The torture sessions intensified once he was taken to Turkey. After being transferred by MIT to an unknown location, Çelik was initially pressured to become an informant, but he refused.
He later described this period to his lawyers, saying: “They pressured me to become an informant. They said if I refused, they would begin a five-stage torture process.”
The torture process, defined by MIT as “five-stage,” continued for three months. What began with beatings escalated in severity day by day.
According to his own account, during this three-month period he was subjected to extremely harsh physical and psychological torture. He said he was thrown to the floor in the plane with his eyes blindfolded, and MIT members stepped on him while beating him. He was kept in a cell with his hands and eyes bound, left without food for long periods, and denied access to hygiene or a toilet, forcing him to relieve himself in the cell.
He reported being subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment, including threats of rape against his family, electric shocks applied to various parts of his body, and torture with pressurized water. He also stated that he was chained during interrogations.
Çelik told his lawyers that doctors came periodically during these months, but instead of providing care, they also beat him, insulted him, and participated in the abuse.
The torture did not stop after MIT’s interrogation ended. Following a staged handover, when MIT delivered Çelik to gendarmerie forces in Muş, he was subjected to further physical violence and insults inside the transport vehicle while being taken to court and the hospital.
Although his lawyers insisted on obtaining medical reports documenting the torture, authorities prevented any treatment until the marks on his body faded. By the time he was sent to the Forensic Medicine Institute, most signs of torture had disappeared. Still, the report stated: “There are no visible signs of torture; however, the time that has passed since the alleged incident must be taken into account.”
A man everyone accused, yet no one actually knew
Separate indictments were prepared against Savaş Çelik: one for the killing of Major Arslan Kulaksız, another for kidnapping on behalf of an organization, and another based on phone calls. Dozens of individuals named in these indictments were heard either as witnesses or suspects. Yet by the time the trial began, almost all who had previously given statements about Çelik changed their testimonies.
In all three indictments, including the main case concerning the killing of Major Kulaksız, those who had given statements clearly told the court that they did not know Çelik. The few who claimed to know him were unable to present any concrete evidence linking him to the alleged crimes.
In the Major Kulaksız case, Sibel Kulaksız, who had been at the scene during the attack and was next to her husband when he was killed, did not identify Çelik in her initial statements. Even after repeated attempts to obtain an identification, she continued to state that she could not recognize him. Despite persistent requests by the defense, the court has still not formally taken her testimony on record.
Nearly all of the individuals accused in the indictment proved that they had been elsewhere at the time of the incident.
The second indictment accused Çelik of “kidnapping and assault on behalf of an organization.” Here, the pattern was the same as in the first case. Many who had given initial statements later told the court that those statements had been taken under pressure. The contradictions in the testimonies of those who claimed Çelik was involved could not be resolved, and as in the first indictment, most eventually stated that they did not know him at all.
The third indictment was based on phone calls. Although the prosecution tried to use these calls as evidence of organizational membership, the individuals with whom Çelik had spoken appeared in court and testified that the conversations were about routine, everyday matters. Their statements further revealed the lack of substance in the indictment.
An ‘illegal organization’ in which everyone seems to know everyone
Another striking point in the indictments is that, in all three of them, those labelled as “members of the organization” or “assisting the organization” were well-known figures in the region. According to all three indictments, nearly everyone, including villagers, knew the individuals accused of being members of the organization. In the first indictment, it is even claimed that almost the entire city of Muş knew about the alleged assassination plot against Major Kulaksız; yet everyone stated that they had only “overheard it” or had simply “read it in the news.”
Three indictments and 78 hearings in three years
Since July 2022, three separate indictments have been filed against Savaş Çelik. A total of 78 hearings have been held regarding these cases. While defense lawyers have consistently dismantled the accusations at each hearing, new charges were repeatedly added. Almost every incident that took place between 2014 and 2015 being attributed to Çelik. In the Major Kulaksız case alone, 12 individuals, including village guards, a head guard, and a soldier, are currently being tried as defendants.