A new wave of operations targeting law enforcement officers has been carried out in the Gülistan Doku case. In a statement posted on his social media account, Akın Gürlek announced that 18 people had been detained in simultaneous operations conducted across 15 provinces.
As part of the investigation into the disappearance of Munzur University student Gülistan Doku, who went missing on January 5, 2020, another detention operation took place on Monday (July 27). During the operation, 18 law enforcement personnel who had been involved in the investigation process were taken into custody.
Coordinated by the Erzurum and Dersim Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices, teams from the Erzurum Provincial Gendarmerie Command carried out simultaneous raids in the early morning hours across 15 provinces: Nevşehir, Istanbul, Isparta, Bilecik, Bursa, Çanakkale, Ordu, Aydın, Diyarbakır, Kayseri, Ankara, Erzincan, Eskişehir, İzmir and Antalya. According to a statement made by Justice Minister Akın Gürlek on his X account, searches were conducted at 21 addresses, and 18 of the 19 suspects for whom detention orders had been issued were taken into custody.
Suspicion of misconduct and tampering with evidence
Analyses of testimonies, along with technical, digital and field work, produced findings indicating that some law enforcement personnel who had served in Dersim committed misconduct and tampered with evidence during the judicial process carried out after Doku’s disappearance.
Those detained include one deputy police chief, one police superintendent, one chief inspector, one inspector, one senior police officer, 10 police officers, one computer operator and three retired police officers.
In the investigation concerning allegations that Doku’s disappearance resulted in a murder, it was reported that indications suggesting evidence had been concealed by certain public officials were being examined in all their aspects.
Former Governor Sonel at Erzurum Courthouse
On the same day, former Dersim Governor Tuncay Sonel, who is currently in custody, along with his protection officer Şükrü Eroğlu and retired police officer Gökhan Ertok, were referred to the Erzurum Courthouse to have their statements taken in connection with new evidence.
Following examinations conducted by the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, it was reported that correspondence between Sonel and Ertok, a dismissed police officer held in custody in the same case file, was being assessed within the scope of the offenses of “destroying, concealing or altering evidence of a crime,” “unlawfully obtaining personal data,” “deprivation of liberty,” “intentional injury,” “robbery” and “destroying or altering data in an information system.”
What Happened?
Gülistan Doku, a second-year student in the Department of Child Development at Munzur University, disappeared on January 5, 2020, after leaving the dormitory where she was staying. Her family filed a missing person report with the Provincial Police Directorate the following day.
Camera footage reviews showed Doku boarding a minibus, but where she got off could not be determined.
After Gülistan Doku disappeared, searches were conducted for days in the Munzur River and in the Uzunçayır Dam Reservoir in Dersim, where her phone had last transmitted a signal. However, despite the reservoir being drained, no trace of Gülistan was found.
Zeinal Abakarov, Doku’s ex-boyfriend and the last person she had contact with, was detained in Antalya in 2022, two years after the incident, and was released under judicial control measures by the court to which he was brought.
June 2024: Ebru Cansu, appointed to the Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office by a decree of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), took up the case again. A special team was formed from JASAT, and approximately 700 hours of security camera footage and license plate recognition system records were re-examined.
2025: A secret witness statement that emerged reportedly said that Doku’s body had been moved more than once and accused the governor’s son of raping Gülistan Doku and killing her by shooting her.
April 14, 2026: Tuncay Sonel, then Governor of Tunceli, his son Mustafa Türkay Sonel, Doku’s ex-boyfriend Zeinal Abakarov and his mother and father, the mother and father of fugitive suspect Umut Altaş, dismissed police officer Gökhan Ertok, Sonel’s then-protection officer Şükrü Eroğlu, Provincial Special Administration employee Erdoğan Elaldı, and Munzur University officials responsible for the cameras, Savaş Gültürk and Süleyman Önal, were detained. Everyone except Gültürk and Önal was arrested. A red notice was issued for Umut Altaş, who was in the United States, and he was later apprehended and arrested there.
April 25, 2026: As part of the investigation, Dersim State Hospital IT staff B.Y. and Y.E. were detained.
July 21, 2026: Simultaneous operations were carried out in Elazığ, Malatya, Ankara, Istanbul and Dersim. A total of 15 people were detained, including three doctors, one nurse, one IT staff member, five data-entry personnel, former Governor Sonel’s wife Handan Sonel, IT company owner Mehmet Aca, who is believed to have tampered with Doku’s phone, one businessman and two village guards.
July 24: Among the suspects detained as part of the investigation, village guard Fatih Özmen was arrested, while Okan Yarıcı was released under judicial control.
July 25: Tuncay Sonel’s wife Handan Sonel and Mehmet Aca, the owner of the IT company, alleged to have tampered with Doku’s phone, were arrested, while village guard Yılmaz Arslan was released under judicial control.
