17.08.2026 14:20
The statements given by Alihan Kuriş, who was arrested on charges of money laundering, fraud, and establishing a criminal organization, during his time at the police station and the prosecutor's office have been revealed. Regarding the gold found at his home, Kuriş said, 'It belongs to my wife,' while stating that he had 650 thousand lira in the bank. Here is the full text of Alihan Kuriş's statement, in which he noted that his monthly income is approximately 380 thousand TL...
Striking details emerged from the police and prosecutor statements of Alihan Kuriş, who faces charges of gang leadership, qualified fraud, violating the Tax Procedure Law, and laundering assets derived from crime, in an investigation coordinated by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and conducted by the Ankara Provincial Police Department's Financial Crimes Unit, with support from the Istanbul Police Department.
Alihan Kuriş's statements, along with the MASAK findings read to him, revealed striking money movements in the file and discrepancies between some of Kuriş's answers and official records.
Kuriş denied all the charges against him, describing the investigation as an “assassination of character.” Introducing himself to the prosecutor's office with the words, “I am the grandson, heir, and representative of Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan,” Kuriş said, “Those who love him love me; I am an opinion leader.”
IT WAS OBSERVED THAT THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE GSM LINE REGISTERED IN ALİHAN KURİŞ'S NAME
Another striking detail in Kuriş's interrogation was his method of communication. In the section of the prosecutor's statement record containing identity information, the note “He does not have an active GSM number” was recorded.
Kuriş, who also stated at the police department that he had no GSM line registered in his name, claimed he usually used the office phone, but could not clearly remember the office number at that moment.
Stating that he communicated via family members' GSM lines, Kuriş also claimed that there was no phone line registered in someone else's name that he used.
HE SAID “I AM AN OPINION LEADER,” BUT WHEN ASKED ABOUT NEARLY 50 CLOSE NAMES, HE REPEATEDLY ANSWERED “I DON'T KNOW THEM”
While Kuriş described himself as an “opinion leader” at the prosecutor's office, a long list of about 50 names was presented to him during the investigation. Kuriş answered “I don't know them,” “I have heard the name,” or “I saw them a few times” for many of the names.
He described some names as “hocaefendi,” “preacher,” “person working at the foundation,” or “individual I know from social circles.”
Kuriş said he saw many people at the Ümraniye Gümüşsoy Foundation, but claimed he had no connection with the foundation in question. He openly stated that his commercial activities with his brother Hilmi Tuna Kuriş were ongoing.
HE CALLED THE STATEMENT ABOUT HIM “EXPECTS ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE” A “SLANDER, FIGMENT OF IMAGINATION”
One of the most serious allegations against Kuriş at the prosecutor's office was the statement given by Rüstem Şahin included in the file.
In Şahin's testimony, it was alleged that after Kuriş took over the leadership of the structure, he pressured community members, especially the managers of commercial institutions and dormitories, regarding “absolute obedience” and managed the structure through a group of close associates.
Kuriş, however, stating that he did not know Rüstem Şahin, said: “I definitely do not accept this statement. It is a slander against me, a figment of imagination. ”
HE DECLARED A MONTHLY INCOME OF 380 THOUSAND TL: A THREE-STOREY HOUSE, LAND, OFFICE SHARE, AND COMPANY PARTNERSHIPS EMERGED
Kuriş said his monthly income was approximately 380 thousand TL, consisting of his salary from the company and rental income.
When asked about his assets, he declared, in addition to real estate inherited from his father, a share in an office building in Sakarya Erenler, a 3-storey house he owned in Çamlıca, a joint approximately 450 square meter plot of land with family members in Kısıklı, and a 2008 model Mercedes car.
He said there was approximately 650 thousand TL in his personal account at İş Bankası, as far as he remembered.
Kuriş also stated that he was a 51% shareholder of Altun Mimarlık İnşaat and had previously held a 49% share in ELF Yapı. In contrast, it was noted that a total of 191 real estate records were found in the name of the Kuriş family within the scope of the investigation.
HE SAID “I WAS A 5% PARTNER,” BUT OFFICIAL RECORDS SHOWED 37.5%
One of the most striking discrepancies in Kuriş's statements emerged regarding his partnership share in Arden Gıda. In his answers to questions about the company, Kuriş said he remembered his share in Arden Gıda as 5%.
However, according to the GİB records included in the statement record, Kuriş's share was 10%, 2%, and 5% in different periods, rising to 37.5% between February 12, 2020, and July 28, 2021.
Despite these records being read to him, Kuriş said, “I remember my share as 5% during the periods I was a shareholder.”
HE TRANSFERRED HIS PARTNERSHIP IN THE BILLION-VALUED COMPANY TO HIS BROTHER
Discrepancies were also observed in Kuriş's statements regarding the duration of his partnership in Arden Gıda. At the beginning of his police statement, he said he was a shareholder in Arden Gıda from 2003 to 2023, as far as he remembered. When questions turned to MASAK findings, he stated he transferred all his shares in July 2021.
At the prosecutor's office, Kuriş, who also said he left the company in 2021, was asked to whom he transferred his shares, and he answered, “I don't remember who I transferred them to, but it could be my brother.” Official records, however, indicate the shares were transferred to his brother Hilmi Tuna Kuriş.
A MONEY TRAFFIC OF 6.52 BILLION AND 76.5 MILLION IN CASH: THE MASAK TABLE WAS PLACED BEFORE HIM
The financial movements of Arden Gıda, of which Kuriş was a former partner and whose shares he transferred to his brother Hilmi Tuna Kuriş, constituted the most comprehensive part of the interrogation. According to MASAK data, Arden Gıda's banking transaction volume reached 6 billion 520 million 264 thousand TL between 2017 and June 30, 2026.
The company's gross sales for the year 2025 alone also reached 1 billion 575 million TL. MASAK noted that significant increases were observed in the financial transaction and goods purchase-sale volumes of the companies under analysis, especially after 2020 and as of 2022.
During the same period, 76 million 537 thousand TL in cash was deposited into Arden Gıda accounts, and transfer entries totaling around 52 million 381 thousand TL were recorded through electronic money and payment institutions. It was observed that approximately 52 million 374 thousand TL of this amount was carried out through SİPAY in 273 transactions.
In MASAK's assessment, attention was drawn not only to the size of the figures but also to the source of the money and its movement between companies. The report stated that a significant portion of the companies under analysis had high cash circulation, that “high-amount cash entries of unaccountable source” were made to the companies, and that the transfer of these funds to different companies was considered suspicious.
MASAK also evaluated the presence of both high-amount purchases and high-amount sales transactions between the same companies in the inter-company goods purchase-sale records as “noteworthy in terms of fake invoicing.”
The report also scrutinized foreign currency inflows incompatible with goods purchase-sale records, high tax refunds, cash movements, and intense money transfers between companies. In its conclusion, MASAK included the assessment that these transactions “raise suspicion that they may have been carried out as a result of organized operation.”
The report also found it striking that a company under analysis with a capital of 200 million TL would be split in 2025 to establish a new company with a capital of 1 billion 358 million 236 thousand TL. MASAK also took into consideration that the new company had no equity, goods purchase-sale, or transfer records outside of its capital, and that successive splits, mergers, and transfers among companies made it difficult to trace the financial chain.
One of Arden Gıda's highest-volume commercial relationships was with Akdeniz Toros Et ve Et Mamulleri. In bank records between 2017 and June 2026, the transaction volume between the two companies was approximately 339.6 million TL, while it was noted that Arden Gıda's purchases of goods and services from this company in 2025 alone reached 391 million 215 thousand TL. When Kuriş was asked about Akdeniz Toros's managers, he replied: 'I am a customer of their products; I have no other information about them, I do not know their managers.'
MASAK records also included two separate high-value cash inflows to Arden Gıda from MS Yapı Proje ve İnşaat. In June 2025, approximately 4 million TL was deposited into the company account with the description 'real estate prepayment,' and in July 2025, approximately 32 million TL with the description 'remaining title deed fee,' totaling over 36 million TL.
ONLY DEFENSE FOR BILLION-LIRA FINANCIAL STATEMENT: 'I LEFT IN 2021'
Immediately after reading MASAK's findings regarding billions of liras in transaction volume, cash inflows, intercompany money movements, and invoice relationships, Kuriş was asked whether he had any connection to these transactions. Kuriş centered his defense on transferring his shares in Arden Gıda in 2021.
'As can be seen in official records, I transferred all my shares in Arden Gıda in 07/2021. All the data mentioned and interpreted in the MASAK report belongs to 2023 and later,' he said.
However, in the MASAK conclusion section read to him, it was stated that the significant increase in financial transaction volumes and goods purchase-sale volumes in the companies under analysis was observed after 2020 and especially as of 2022.
In his subsequent response, Kuriş stated that the alleged irregularities occurred in 2022 and after, arguing that it was impossible for him to have any information or knowledge of these transactions.
ASKED ABOUT MANY COMPANIES WITH FAMILIAL TIES: 'NO LEGAL OR ACTUAL DEPENDENCE'
Kuriş was also asked about his relationships with many companies within the scope of the investigation. Kuriş admitted his partnership ties with ELF Yapı and Altun Mimarlık, saying Güldeniz İnşaat and Ardeniz Emlak were companies inherited by his mother and uncles.
Regarding the companies Perka Yapı, Asya Otomotiv, Ada Nakış, Verona, Ada Dokuma, and Asya Süs Bitkileri, in which his father-in-law Mustafa Kösemusul was a partner, he defended himself by saying, 'I have no commercial ties or relationships with them. I have no legal or actual dependence either.'
Kuriş stated that Güleryüz Kuyumculuk belonged to his wife's sister's husband, and said he had no commercial, legal, or actual connection with that company either.
SAID 'FAMILY SAVINGS' FOR THE HIGH AMOUNT OF GOLD AT HOME; A PROMISSORY NOTE WORTH 3 MILLION DOLLARS EMERGED FROM THE PERSON HE CALLED 'MY NEIGHBOR'
During the search at Kuriş's residence on August 13, a high amount of gold and jewelry was seized. Kuriş was asked about the source of such a high amount of gold and why he kept it at home.
Kuriş claimed that some of the jewelry was from the items worn at his wedding with his wife, and some were gifts given to his children, defending himself by saying, 'All of these are my family's savings.'
One of the most striking documents found during the search at Kuriş's home was a promissory note dated January 29, 2021, worth 3 million dollars. In the note, the creditor was Alihan Kuriş and the debtor was Osman Aslanali.
What was striking was that Kuriş had initially described the same person merely as 'my neighbor from Istanbul' and stated there was no completed commercial relationship between them.
When asked about the 3 million dollar promissory note found in the safe, Kuriş this time stated he had considered a real estate sale with Aslanali, saying the note was a 'collateral note related to a real estate sale.'
He claimed the sale did not take place, which is why the note remained with him and had passed its maturity date. Thus, by his own statement, it emerged that Kuriş had planned a 3 million dollar real estate transaction with the neighbor he said he had 'no completed commercial relationship with.'
The fact that a promissory note worth millions of dollars from a sale allegedly not completed was kept in a safe for approximately 5.5 years was one of the notable details in the file.
Kuriş denied all the charges against him in both his police and prosecutor statements. While the matters in the MASAK report and witness statements were being evaluated within the scope of the investigation, it was learned that the investigation into the Alihan Kuriş Criminal Organization continued and deepened.