25.04.2026 11:52
JAK and JASAT teams, dispatched to Tunceli to reach Gülistan Doku's lifeless body, are conducting operations in areas determined by narrowed base data using ground-penetrating imaging devices, cave searches, and cadaver dogs. While the claim that the body's location was changed approximately 1-2 years ago, based on a secret witness statement, is also on the agenda, the search efforts are expected to last about a month.
The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), with its June 2024 decree, appointed Ebru Cansu, one of Turkey's three female chief prosecutors, to Tunceli. Upon taking office, she immediately retrieved the Gülistan Doku file from the shelf and began investigating it. Re-examining the investigation from scratch, Chief Prosecutor Ebru Cansu ordered the formation of a special team consisting of personnel from the Gendarmerie Crime Investigation Teams (JASAT), known as 'Gendarmerie Detectives.' All KGYS footage and PTS records from the city for the day before and the day of Gülistan Doku's disappearance were collected. A total of 70 KGYS cameras, including 67 on main arteries, along with an additional 700 hours of footage from security cameras, were added to the file, which also contained new images of Gülistan.
Gülistan Doku TURNED FROM A MISSING PERSON CASE TO A MURDER CASE The footage revealing where Gülistan came from before going to the café to meet her boyfriend Zeinal Abarakov, and when she left the café to go to her teacher, was watched second by second by the Chief Prosecutor's Office and the special team, investigating Gülistan's fate. Additionally, some suspects were added to the file, and HTS and PTS analyses were conducted. After the necessary work was completed, an operation was launched. In the case, which turned from a missing person file into a 'murder' investigation, simultaneous operations were carried out on April 14 and 17 on suspicion of murder. 15 suspects were detained. A red notice was issued for Umut Altaş, who is a suspect in the case and is located in the USA.
THE THEN-GOVERNOR, HIS SON, AND 12 SUSPECTS ARRESTED Among the suspects referred to the courthouse after their procedures at the gendarmerie, Mustafa Türkay Sonel, son of Tuncay Sonel, and Erdoğan Elaldı, a former employee of the Special Provincial Administration who was found to have had the last contact with Gülistan Doku through narrowed cell tower analysis, were arrested on charges of 'Intentional killing.' Gülistan Doku's ex-boyfriend Zeinal Abarakov, Abarakov's father Engin Yücer and mother Cemile Yücer, fugitive suspect Umut Altaş's father Celal Altaş and mother Nurşen Arıkan, dismissed police officer Gökhan Ertok, and Şükrü Eroğlu, who was then Tuncay Sonel's close bodyguard, were arrested on charges of 'Concealing and destroying evidence of a crime.' Ferhat Güven was arrested for 'Robbery' due to his actions against Gülistan Doku's sister, Aygül Doku, and was sent to prison.
Çağdaş Özdemir, the then-chief physician of Tunceli State Hospital, who was detained in Bursa on allegations of deleting Gülistan Doku's hospital records and brought to the Tunceli Courthouse, was also arrested on charges of 'Falsifying, destroying, or concealing an official document.' Tuncay Sonel was arrested on charges of 'Destroying, concealing, or altering evidence of a crime,' 'Obstructing, impairing, destroying, or altering data in an information system, unlawfully providing or seizing personal data,' and 'Falsifying, destroying, or concealing an official document.' Suspects U.A., along with S.G. and S.Ö., who were responsible for the cameras at Munzur University, were released under judicial control.
Last evening, Tunceli State Hospital IT staff Burçin Y. and Yücel E. were detained on suspicion of 'Destroying and concealing evidence' regarding the alleged deletion of hospital records. The suspects' statement procedures at the gendarmerie are ongoing.
SECRET WITNESS'S STATEMENT INDICATED GÜLİSTAN WAS KILLED While the investigation continues, a confidential witness named Şubat, who approached the gendarmerie, stated in a statement given to JASAT teams on January 10, 2025, that on the day of Doku's disappearance, around midday, she was picked up from Sarı Saltuk Viaduct by a car driven by Mustafa Türkay Sonel, the son of the then-governor Tuncay Sonel, and taken to the Rostan-Dinar area. The secret witness claimed that Gülistan was shot and killed in the head with a gun inside the vehicle there. The witness alleged that after the incident, Doku was intended to be buried in the same area, but later the body was buried under a large tree next to a shrine, where a cemetery is also located, in the Koçpınar village of Pertek district.
ALLEGATION THAT THE BODY WAS MOVED In the witness statement, it was also claimed that approximately 1-2 years ago, the body was moved and taken to another village in Pertek. Following the secret witness's statement, a search was conducted on January 12 by Chief Prosecutor Ebru Cansu, JASAT, and a ground-penetrating radar operator near the cemetery at the entrance of Koçpınar village in Pertek district. Subsequently, a report prepared stated that a scanning operation lasting approximately 2 hours was carried out in the specified coordinates, and during the examinations, a suspicious cavity was detected when the device gave an alert. It was noted that the cavity was approximately 1.60-1.70 meters long, 70-80 centimeters wide, and about 80 centimeters deep, resembling a grave image. The report also included the assessment that a person might have been buried in the detected cavity and later exhumed. It was stated that this period could be between approximately 1 to 2 years, and the report noted that besides a body, items such as a backpack-like object and a weapon might have been buried in the cavity, with oxidation in the area supporting this situation. Following the work, a search was conducted last year with the participation of Chief Prosecutor Ebru Cansu and JASAT teams using ground-penetrating radar devices at 17 points covering a total area of 40 kilometers, but no evidence belonging to Gülistan Doku was found.
SUSPECTS TRACED THROUGH NARROWED CELL TOWER ANALYSIS According to technical data in the cell tower report in the file; on December 27, 2019, before Gülistan's disappearance, the phones of Gülistan Doku, then-Governor Tuncay Sonel's son Mustafa Türkay Sonel, and Umut Altaş simultaneously gave signals around the Youth Center. This indicated that the suspects had contact with Gülistan before the incident. Additionally, it was determined that the phones of Mustafa Türkay Sonel, Umut Altaş, Erdoğan Elaldı, and Şükrü Eroğlu gave signals in the same area around Sarı Saltuk Viaduct, the last place Gülistan Doku was seen. The phone of fugitive suspect Umut Altaş, who fled to the USA, gave a signal in the Sarı Saltuk Viaduct area, where Gülistan was last seen, at 19.
It was confirmed by base station data that it remained stable from 28 to 21 and 36, and from 22:08 onwards, the governor's son Mustafa Türkay Sonel and his guard Şükrü Eroğlu also came to the same area and met with Umut Altaş.
TEAMS CONTINUE THEIR WORK To find Gülistan Doku's lifeless body, upon the request of the Ministry of Justice and the instruction of the Ministry of Interior, Gendarmerie Search and Rescue (JAK) teams affiliated with the Gendarmerie General Command were dispatched to Tunceli with state-of-the-art devices. A special team of 30 people, consisting of JAK teams and JASAT units affiliated with the Tunceli Provincial Gendarmerie Command, continues their work under the coordination of Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor Ebru Cansu. It was learned that the teams are conducting searches in designated areas based on narrowed base station data and suspicious points.
SEARCH OPERATIONS MAY LAST 1 MONTH Some of the teams, who went out to the field early in the day, are scanning with underground imaging devices. Through the infrared signals sent by the devices, a three-dimensional image of the underground is obtained, and suspicious areas are examined in detail. Other teams enter caves in the region with ropes and search inside using flashlights and headlamps. Despite the challenging terrain conditions, cadaver dogs, also known as those capable of detecting human remains, are also on duty in the meticulously conducted search activities. It was stated that this dog, selected from the Labrador breed, can detect even human remains from years ago thanks to its advanced olfactory abilities and special training. It was learned that search operations may continue at different locations based on findings obtained, and the operations could last up to 1 month.
The search efforts of the teams were captured by DHA both on the ground and from the air.