07.05.2026 19:13
In the Gülistan Doku investigation in Tunceli, it was revealed that on January 5, 2020, the day the young girl disappeared, she sent a message to the owner of the pastry shop where she worked saying, “I won’t come anymore.” In his testimony, the shop owner stated that Doku started working on January 4, left the workplace around 8:00 PM, never returned, and sent an SMS the next morning indicating she would not come back to work.
Ebru Cansu, one of Turkey's 3 female chief prosecutors appointed to Tunceli with the June 2024 decree of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), started investigating the Gülistan Doku case immediately upon taking office. Upon the instruction of Chief Prosecutor Ebru Cansu, who handled the investigation from scratch, a special team was formed 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.
FORMER GOVERNOR AND HIS SON AMONG 12 SUSPECTS ARRESTED New footage of Gülistan was also found, and an additional 700 hours of footage from 70 KGYS cameras, 67 of which are on main arteries, and security cameras were added to the file. The footage revealing where Gülistan came from to the café where she met her boyfriend Zeinal Abarakov before her disappearance, when she left the café, and when she went to her teacher, was watched second by second by the Chief Prosecutor's Office and the special team to investigate 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, operations were carried out on April 14, 17, and 24 on suspicion of murder. 17 suspects were detained. A red notice was issued for Umut Altaş, who is a suspect in the case and is in the USA.
After their processing at the gendarmerie, suspects including Mustafa Türkay Sonel, son of Tuncay Sonel, and Erdoğan Elaldı, who was identified through narrowed cell tower analysis as having had the last contact with Gülistan Doku and was an employee of the Special Provincial Administration at the time, were arrested for '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 Tuncay Sonel's close bodyguard at the time, were arrested for 'Concealing and destroying evidence of a crime'. Ferhat Güven was arrested and sent to prison for 'Robbery' due to his actions against Gülistan Doku's sister Aygül Doku. The former chief physician of Tunceli State Hospital, Çağdaş Özdemir, who was detained in Bursa for allegedly deleting Gülistan Doku's hospital records and brought to the Tunceli Courthouse, was arrested for 'Falsifying, destroying, or concealing official documents'. Tuncay Sonel was arrested and sent to prison for 'Destroying, concealing, or altering evidence of a crime', 'Preventing, corrupting, destroying, or altering data in an information system, unlawfully providing or obtaining personal data', and 'Falsifying, destroying, or concealing official documents'. Suspects U.A., along with S.G. and S.Ö., who were responsible for cameras at Munzur University, were released under judicial supervision. Tunceli State Hospital IT staff Burçin Y. and Yücel E., who were detained on charges of 'Destroying and concealing evidence' for allegedly deleting hospital records, were released under judicial supervision.
SHE STARTED WORK 1 DAY BEFORE DISAPPEARING It was revealed that Gülistan Doku started working at a pastry shop on January 4, one day before her disappearance, and then sent a message to the shop owner M.E. at 08:13 AM on January 5, 2020, the day she disappeared. In her last message to M.E., Doku reportedly used the phrase 'I'm not coming anymore.'
PASTRY SHOP OWNER: GÜLİSTAN LEFT THE PASTRY SHOP AND NEVER RETURNED In the information-gathering report included in the Gülistan Doku investigation, the statement given to the police on January 13, 2020, by M.E., the owner of the shop where Doku worked, was also revealed. M.E. stated in his testimony that Gülistan started working on January 4, saying, 'I am the owner of the pastry shop in Atatürk District. Gülistan Doku, who disappeared on January 5, 2020, started working at my shop on January 4, 2020, and came to work around 17:00. Around 19:00, while Gülistan was at the shop, Zeinal, a former employee of my pastry shop and my neighbor, came to the shop to buy bread. However, since Gülistan was working in the back, they did not meet face to face at all. Zeinal's entry and exit from the shop were brief. He did not stay long in the shop. After staying at the pastry shop for a few hours, Gülistan told me she had some errands and asked for permission. I gave her permission, but I don't know where she went. I don't remember exactly, but around 20:00, Gülistan left the pastry shop. She never returned. On January 5, 2020, at 08:13 AM, as I mentioned in my initial statement to your department, she sent me an SMS saying she would not come to work again. On January 5, 2020, around 16:00, a friend of Gülistan named 'Küba' came to the shop to ask about Gülistan and said she was missing. She said, 'Let's meet with Zeinal.' I called Zeinal with Küba present. Zeinal told me he was at home and would go to work. I told Küba that if she wanted to meet, she should go to Zeinal's workplace. That is all I know and have to say about the matter,' he said.