SPICE BAZAAR CASE CHRONOLOGY
09.07.1998 An explosion occurred at the Spice Bazaar.
11.07.1998 Pınar Selek was taken into custody. During her detention, she was not asked any questions about the Spice Bazaar. Instead, she was interrogated about her research on the Kurdish issue and the people she interviewed. When she refused to provide names, she was subjected to severe torture, and false records were created. Her left arm was dislocated due to the strappado torture. At no stage of the investigation was she allowed legal assistance.
13.07.1998 Police report: "Pınar Selek fell on her left arm in detention."
14.07.1998 Criminal Laboratory Report: "No evidence of a bomb was found at the Spice Bazaar."
18.07.1998 Pınar Selek was arrested as a sole suspect by the Military Judge of the State Security Court on charges of membership in an organization.
20.07.1998 Report by police bomb experts on the Spice Bazaar explosion: "Not a bomb." "No bomb-related fragments, substances, or materials were found in the bodies of the deceased or in other examined materials."
15.08.1998 Police interrogation report of Abdülmecit Öztürk: "Selek and I carried out the bombing at the Spice Bazaar together."
18.08.1998 Abdülmecit Öztürk, in his statement to the prosecutor, stated that his police testimony was obtained under torture and managed to have it recorded that he had no knowledge or involvement with the Spice Bazaar incident. However, a later addition was made to his statement, beginning with, "After being kept in the adjacent room for 15 minutes, A. Öztürk stated that he wished to change his testimony and was brought back in," followed by, "I regret it. The police report is correct." Notably, this additional statement lacked the prosecutor's signature. (Öztürk was not provided legal assistance at any stage of the investigation.)
18.08.1998 On the same day, a Turkish-written statement signed with a fingerprint by Abdülmecit's aunt, Ş. Güler, read: "The girl who came to my house is the one in the photo. My nephew introduced her as his fiancée. I don’t know her name. They would go into a room and lock the door; I don’t know what they did inside."
18.08.1998 Although Pınar had not even been questioned about the matter, the Istanbul Police Department presented her to the public as the "Spice Bazaar bomber" via a press conference.
02.11.1998 Expert report prepared by the prosecutor: "Traces of nitrocellulose found."
02.11.1998 A second case was filed against Pınar based on the Spice Bazaar indictment.
10.02.1999 Decision to merge the two cases against Pınar.
14.04.1999 Court hearing: Defendant A. Öztürk stated, "I do not know Selek. The police testimony is not true. I was severely tortured."
(There was no eyewitness testimony identifying, recognizing, or resembling Pınar Selek at the crime scene.)
05.07.1999 Testimony of the Chief Inspector, a bomb expert who examined the crime scene: "We found no evidence of a bomb. The explosion at the Spice Bazaar was definitely not caused by a bomb. If it were a bomb, it would have created at least a 50 cm crater at the explosion site. All bombs create a crater where they detonate. Our crime scene investigation found no such crater." "It was a gas leak explosion."
15.06.2000 Prof. Reşat Apak, Head of the Analytical Chemistry Department at Istanbul University: "Nitrocellulose is found in many substances and is not proof of a bomb. Nitrocellulose and nitrite ions are commonly used in everyday life, from sausages, salami, and pastirma to varnish, paint, synthetic leather, ink, and adhesives. The Spice Bazaar is a place where these materials are abundant."
27.07.2000 Report from Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Forensic Medicine Department: "The prosecutor's report is unscientific. The bodies of the deceased showed no evidence of shrapnel bomb impact. None of the cases align with injuries caused by a bomb explosion. The method described in the indictment (grating TNT blocks into an empty soda can, using a pin and wires) is completely impossible."
On the 27.10.2000 hearing, it was revealed that public witness Ş. Güler did not speak Turkish and was illiterate. Her testimony was then taken through an interpreter. In her statement, which was translated from Kurdish to Turkish, Ş. Güler states the following: “I have never seen Selek before, I don't know her. They handed me a piece of paper and pressed my finger on it, I don't know what was written on it. I can't read or write. I didn't identify anyone.” Thus, it is understood that false evidence was created by having a person who does not speak Turkish press his finger on a report written in Turkish without an interpreter.
21.12.2000 The report of the expert committee appointed by the court, consisting of professors specialized in bombs and gas: “Definitely not a bomb, it was a gas leak.” The report also stated that the gas accumulated in places where air circulation was reduced, that when the leakage gas, which is heavier than air, accumulated on the floor, it could not be inhaled by people standing on the floor, that, according to witness statements, there were many people taking shelter inside the kiosk and in front of the doors due to the rainy weather, that it reduced the already small volume and prevented ventilation.”
22.12.2000 Pınar Selek was released.
19.04.2001 The General Directorate of Security and the Ministry of Interior, despite not being a party to the case and without the court’s request, unlawfully intervened in the trial three years after the explosion by submitting an unsigned and undated report claiming, "The explosion was caused by a bomb. A new expert committee should be formed."
( In fact, the bomb expert units of the General Directorate of Security had clearly determined in their investigations after the incident that there was no sign of a bomb in the explosion).
27.04.2001/24.01.2002 Forensic Medicine First Specialization Board and the General Assembly of Forensic Medicine conducted examinations on the deceased and injured. They found no medical evidence related to a bomb in the body fragments removed.
04.07.2002 (Based on the request of the Ministry of Interior and the Security Directorate, despite not being a party to the case) – An expert report with dissenting opinion prepared with the opinion of gendarmerie officials, who lacked expertise in explosion origins, reached the same conclusion as that of the Security Directorate’s report: "a bomb." However, it failed to explain the type of bomb.
10.07.2002 The court-appointed expert report confirmed: "It was definitively a gas leak explosion." In the report, the accumulation point of the gas was identified as the lahmacun oven and it is stated that “If the gas leakage is concentrated in a narrow place, as in the Spice Bazaar explosion, a center is formed”.
21.12.2002 A report by the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University (METU), using image processing technology, confirmed that the explosion's center matched the location identified in the gas leak explosion report, while the explosion center suggested in the bomb claim report was physically impossible; that the exact coordinates of the explosion center have been determined, and that the explosion occurred inside a lahmacun oven.
28.12.2005 The prosecutor asked for aggravated life imprisonment for Pınar Selek.
08.06.2006 The 12th High Criminal Court ruled that there was no need to impose a penalty due to the lack of definitive and convincing evidence in the Spice Bazaar explosion case.
17.04.2007 The 9th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation reversed the verdict of the court on the grounds that the verdict did not establish a judgement.
23.05.2008 The 12th High Criminal Court of Istanbul, reiterating its previous decision due to the lack of conclusive and convincing evidence regarding the Spice Bazaar explosion allegation, acquitted Pınar Selek and Öztürk in relation to the explosion at the Spice Bazaar. It also ruled to dismiss the case concerning the charge of aiding and abetting due to the statute of limitations. In its decision, the court found the allegations against Pınar regarding her alleged membership in an organization unconvincing.
29.05.2008 The trial prosecutor requested only the annulment of Pınar Selek’s acquittal regarding the Spice Bazaar case. As a result, the acquittal of Abdülmecit Öztürk, the person who had initially given a police statement saying, “We carried out the act together” but later retracted it, became final. This meant that while the statement obtained from Öztürk under torture, claiming, “Pınar and I carried out the act together,” was deemed neither valid nor credible for himself, it was paradoxically considered valid and credible (!) for Pınar, who had never given any such statement.
10.03.2009 The 9th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation overturned the acquittal decision. However, the same chamber stated that since the prosecution had not appealed Öztürk’s acquittal, his acquired rights remained intact.
04.05.2009 The Chief Public Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation objected to the 9th Criminal Chamber’s decision to overturn the acquittal and appealed to the General Criminal Assembly of the Court of Cassation, arguing that “it has not been proven that the explosion was caused by a bomb,” and requested the confirmation of the acquittal decision.
09.02.2010 The General Criminal Assembly of the Court of Cassation (despite the Chief Prosecutor’s objection that it had not been proven that the explosion was caused by a bomb) stated that there was no doubt between the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the 9th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation regarding the cause of the explosion (that a bomb had exploded). With a vote of 17 to 6, the Assembly rejected the Chief Prosecutor’s objection. This indicated that the General Assembly had not read the two-page objection reasoning provided by the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
09.02.2011 The 12th High Criminal Court of Istanbul decided to resist its previous acquittal decision for Pınar Selek.
10.02.2011 The court prosecutor once again appealed the acquittal decision. However, since the proceedings regarding procedural deficiencies in other cases consolidated with the Spice Bazaar case were still ongoing, the case file for the Spice Bazaar trial was put on hold before being sent to the Court of Cassation.
22.11.2012 In the hearing on this date, the panel, which included a new judge temporarily presiding over the 12th High Criminal Court of Istanbul while the regular presiding judge was on leave, unlawfully reversed the final decision of resistance to acquittal for Pınar Selek through an interim ruling, just as it was about to be sent to the Court of Cassation. Thus, despite having already issued a ruling and withdrawn from the case, the court, in violation of legal procedures and without authority, issued a second ruling, effectively placing itself in the position of an appellate authority and revoking its own acquittal decision. On the same day, the prosecutor, while submitting a new opinion on the merits of the case as if no final decision had been made, also did not withdraw the appeal petition.
24.01.2013 In the hearing on this date, despite the opposition of the presiding judge, the 12th High Criminal Court of Istanbul, by majority vote, sentenced Pınar Selek to aggravated life imprisonment and issued an arrest warrant. Additionally, the court requested an Interpol Red Notice and demanded her extradition from France. However, Interpol found the request to be inconsistent with its criteria and insufficient, rejecting it and ordering the destruction of the request file. On 03.03.2014, Interpol informed Pınar Selek’s lawyers of this decision.
30.04.2014 The Court of Cassation’s 9th Criminal Chamber held an appeal hearing upon the appeal request filed by Pınar Selek’s lawyers. This was the first time that Pınar Selek’s lawyers were able to present a defense before the Court of Cassation.
11.06.2014 After reviewing the appeal, the 9th Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation decided to overturn the life sentence given to Pınar Selek.
03.10.2014 Since the special-authority courts were abolished, the case file was transferred to the 15th High Criminal Court of Istanbul. The court panel stated that they considered the Court of Cassation’s reversal decision, the current state of the evidence, and the previous acquittal rulings. Based on these considerations, they also lifted the arrest warrant for Pınar Selek.
05.12.2014 At the hearing held at the 15th High Criminal Court, the public prosecutor presented their opinion on the merits of the case. The newly assigned prosecutor, who had just joined the case, repeated the request for aggravated life imprisonment for Pınar Selek without presenting any concrete evidence or justification. In response, the defense lawyers pointed out that Pınar Selek had been acquitted three times before and stated that they did not accept this baseless opinion. The court granted time for the discussion of all evidence and for the defense to be presented, adjourning the hearing to December 19 (Friday) at 10:00 AM.
19.12.2014 Pınar Selek’s lawyers presented their defense at the 15th High Criminal Court. The court ruled that, since there was no conclusive and convincing evidence sufficient to convict her of the crime attributed to her in connection with the Spice Bazaar explosion, and based on the legal principle that doubts should be interpreted in favor of the defendant, she was acquitted in accordance with Article 223/2-E of the Turkish Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK). Sociologist and writer Pınar Selek was acquitted for the fourth time.
22.12.2014 The prosecutor appealed the acquittal decision of the 15th High Criminal Court. The case file was sent to the General Criminal Assembly of the Court of Cassation.
21.06.2022 The General Criminal Assembly of the Court of Cassation overturned the acquittal decision issued by the 15th High Criminal Court of Istanbul after eight years and ruled that Pınar Selek should be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment.
31.03.2023 In the first hearing of the fifth trial, a Red Notice request and an in-absentia arrest warrant were issued on the grounds that Pınar Selek’s statement needed to be taken in response to the Court of Cassation's ruling.
28.06.2024 During the hearing of the fifth trial against Pınar Selek, a fabricated document was included in the court file, prepared by the Interpol-Europol Department of the General Directorate of Security of the Turkish Ministry of Interior, falsely claiming that Pınar Selek had attended an event organized by members of the PKK/KCK terrorist organizations in Nice, France, in April 2024. In response, Pınar Selek’s lawyers filed a criminal complaint request regarding this unlawful intervention in the judicial process. Côte d'Azur University and the Migration and Society Research Unit (URMIS), where Pınar Selek is currently employed as a faculty member, sent an official letter to the court, confirming that Selek had been assigned by them to participate in an academic meeting as part of the "Spring of Migration" festival, which was directly organized by the university.
This latest attempt to criminalize Pınar Selek, even within the framework of her academic work at her university, once again exposed the series of unlawful interventions in this case, which has relied on fabricated records, manipulated evidence, and discredited false allegations from the very beginning.
The next hearing will take place on Friday, February 7, 2025, before a newly appointed judicial panel at the 15th High Criminal Court of Istanbul. At this stage, a response is awaited from Interpol.
07.02.2025 In the case against sociologist and writer Pınar Selek, whose fourth acquittal in the Mısır Çarşısı case was overturned by the Court of Cassation of Turkey, the fourth hearing was held at the Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court. At the hearing, where the panel of judges had changed, the court announced its interim decision. The court ruled that the relevant petitions be uploaded to the UYAP in line with the request of Selek’s lawyer, that the execution of the arrest warrant issued against Pınar Selek and the arrest order issued against Abdülmecit Öztürk continue, and that an official letter be sent to the Ministry of Justice of Turkey to inquire about the status of correspondence with judicial authorities in France for the purpose of taking Selek’s testimony. The court adjourned the hearing to April 25, 2025.
25.04.2025 At the hearing, which lasted approximately five minutes, the court panel ruled that the previously issued arrest warrant against Pınar Selek would remain in force, that the process regarding the Red Notice would be awaited, and that the request to lift the arrest warrant issued against the defendant Abdülmecit Öztürk would be rejected.The court adjourned the next hearing to Friday, October 21, 2025, at 10:45 a.m.
21.10.2025 At the hearing held before the Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court, requests to lift the detention and arrest warrants issued against Pınar Selek were rejected. The requests by her lawyers to take her statement abroad through rogatory commission (letters rogatory) were also denied.As will be recalled, at the previous hearing on April 25, it was noted that an official letter had been entered into the case file stating that the court’s request for a Red Notice for Selek had not been deemed appropriate by Interpol. Despite these developments and requests, the court ruled to maintain the arrest decision and to await the letters rogatory documents requested from the General Directorate of International Law and Foreign Relations of the Ministry of Justice of Turkey in accordance with the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. The hearing was adjourned to April 2, 2026, at 09:45.