01.09.2026 11:00
Ankara Metropolitan Municipality announced on August 7 that a criminal complaint had been filed against names including Melih Gökçek, his family, Beyaz TV Ankara, and Osmanlı Spor executives, on allegations of a "criminal organization." The development came during the ongoing investigation initiated after Murat Ağırel's claims regarding the Gökçek family's company and real estate investments in Germany.
Ankara Metropolitan Municipality announced 27 days ago that a criminal complaint had been filed against former Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Melih Gökçek.
In the statement, it was said, "Nadi Türkaslan, lawyer of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, filed a criminal complaint on 07.08.2026 with the Organized Crimes Investigation Bureau against former Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Melih Gökçek, his family, Beyaz TV Ankara and Osmanlı Spor executives, and individuals alleged to have been involved in bid rigging, on charges of being an organized crime group."
WHAT HAPPENED?
Journalist Murat Ağırel, in his broadcasts in the last days of August, brought to the agenda various allegations regarding the overseas company and real estate investments of former Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Melih Gökçek and his family. Ağırel claimed that HAMAG, a company he alleged was linked to the Gökçek family, was established in Germany on August 30, 2022, with a capital of 30,000 euros, and that although the company had no employees or turnover in its initial period, it later turned to real estate investments worth millions of euros.
Ağırel claimed that a building consisting of 15 apartments and two commercial units was purchased in Düsseldorf, Germany, through HAMAG, and that the price of the property was recorded as 3 million 850 thousand euros in official documents. Ağırel also made allegations that a contract worth millions of euros was signed for another property in Velbert, Germany.
INVESTIGATION LAUNCHED
Following the allegations raised by Ağırel, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an ex officio investigation into Melih Gökçek regarding the claims of "unregistered funds transferred to overseas companies." In a statement after the investigation, Gökçek rejected the allegations, stating that he would provide the necessary information to the prosecutor's office and that he trusted Turkish justice. Murat Ağırel, who brought the allegations to the agenda, was also summoned to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office as a witness within the scope of the investigation.
On August 31, Ağırel went to the Ankara Courthouse, testified as a witness at the prosecutor's office, and handed over the information and documents in his possession to the investigative authorities. Speaking after the statement process, Ağırel said he believed the investigation could expand and gained the impression that the file could extend to other names.
AĞIREL SHARED A LIST ON LIVE BROADCAST
In the evening hours of the same day, Ağırel this time put forward new allegations regarding Melih Gökçek's assets in Turkey. Sharing a list on a live broadcast, Ağırel said there were 23 separate properties he claimed belonged to Gökçek. The list included residences, lands, fields, and independent sections in Ankara's Çankaya, Pursaklar, Gölbaşı, and Etimesgut districts, as well as properties in Şanlıurfa's Halfeti district.
Melih Gökçek responded to this claim by sharing a screenshot of his query to the General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre via e-Government. Stating that no land registry record matched his national ID number, Gökçek argued that the allegations did not reflect the truth and announced that he would file a criminal complaint against Ağırel.
Following Gökçek's statement, Murat Ağırel responded again. Ağırel stated that the property information he disclosed was not from a current land registry query but from records found in the case file of civil lawsuit numbered 2019/236, arguing that there was no confidentiality order in that file and that the information he shared was based on official records. Thus, the process that began with the company and real estate allegations in Germany continued with the prosecutor's investigation and the Gökçek-Ağırel dispute over 23 properties.