Protests, solidarity mark beginning of coup-plot case against Turkish fan group çArşı

A trial against 35 individuals associated with Beşiktaş’s football fan group çArşı on charges of “attempting to overthrow the government” during last year’s Gezi Park protests has started at the Çağlayan Courthouse in central Istanbul.

“We would make Beşiktaş the champions if we had the power,” said Cem Yakışkan, one of the prominent members of the group, when asked by the judge if the group had ever attempted a coup.

The Black and Whites’ latest title was in 2009.

Yakışkan also said upon a question on his role in gathering people via social media for street protests that he did not even have a Twitter account at the time in question.

Arda Mutlu Doğan, another suspect, said he had never been to Gezi Park and did not attend any protests as this was against his political stance.

Some 100 lawyers were ready at court to defend the fan group, which says the claims are baseless.
As the initial hall of the hearing was too small due to the high number of attendees, Judge Mehmet Tamirci lost no time in adapting to the sarcastic language of the çArşı group, saying he did not want an “away game,” accordingly requesting that some of the crowd leave the hall. A larger hall in the courthouse was subsequently opened, as the corridors witnessed football chants.

The group drew massive support from a crowd that included main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies.

“It is a strange practice to claim that a football fan group would attempt a coup case,”  said Faruk Bal, an opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) at the Parliament, as CHP deputy Mehmet Hilal Kaplan wore a çArşı scarf and his colleague Melda Onur wore a Beşiktaş jersey at the Parliament...