20.05.2026 21:01
A citizen living in Antalya applied to convert the license of a vehicle he purchased as a 'tow truck' into a pickup truck license after some time. However, upon learning during the inspection that a fake tow truck license had been issued for the vehicle, the citizen reported his own vehicle.
Cengiz Uğurluel, who wanted to work as a car recovery operator in Antalya, purchased a tow truck he found online on March 20, 2023.
HIS WORLD COLLAPSED WHEN HE LEARNED THE TRUTH After buying the vehicle, Uğurluel worked as a car recovery operator, but when he didn't like the job, he wanted to convert the vehicle's registration to a pickup truck. Applying to the relevant authorities, Uğurluel learned that the recovery designation on the registration was fake at the time of purchase, and that a fake registration had been arranged for the vehicle he bought by A.Ö. in Şırnak Cizre. Realizing he had been scammed, Uğurluel filed a complaint and a lawsuit against the people he bought the vehicle from.
“WE ARE REPORTING OUR OWN VEHICLE TO THE STATE” Stating that he works in the solar energy business in Antalya, Uğurluel said, "I bought the pickup truck as a recovery vehicle 3 years ago. After a while, when I wanted to use the vehicle as a pickup truck, I applied to the relevant authorities. We wanted to complete the documents, but we saw that this vehicle was never a recovery vehicle. The people we bought the vehicle from sold it to us as a recovery vehicle, but the vehicle was never a recovery vehicle. No documents were submitted to the state to make it a recovery vehicle, no project was drawn up, and TSE was not informed. The registration was issued through irregular means, and the vehicle was made into a recovery vehicle. When we did a detailed investigation, we learned that these individuals never went to Şırnak Cizre in their lives, yet the registration was issued in Cizre, and the vehicle was made into a recovery vehicle by re-issuing the registration at a notary in Antalya. However, this vehicle is irregular. We are reporting our own vehicle to our state," he said.
“WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF WE CONTINUED DOING THIS JOB” Uğurluel said, "I did a lot of research and saw that there are many vehicles like this in traffic. We filed a lawsuit against the individuals. The vehicle's registration was issued by forging official documents. We initially bought the vehicle to do car recovery work. What would have happened if we continued doing this job? We might have sold the vehicle to someone else. What would that person do? They would sue us. We would then have had to sue these individuals again," he said.
“LET NO ONE ELSE BE VICTIMIZED” Uğurluel's lawyer, Arif Erdoğan, said that the vehicle was converted into a tow truck without sufficient documents, that this process was carried out at a notary in Şırnak Cizre, and that it was done in collaboration with a notary in Antalya. He stated that they learned there were many irregular vehicles in this way. Afterwards, they filed their complaint in 2025. The prosecutor's office accepted their complaint and sent a directive to Şırnak Cizre. The statements of the notary staff were taken. Later, a non-prosecution decision was made. They objected to the non-prosecution decision, saying that sufficient investigation had not been conducted. The people who sold this vehicle to the client also denied making the sale in their statements to the prosecutor's office. However, we have the sales document. We request that our complaint regarding this vehicle, which was converted into a tow truck without sufficient documents and later into a pickup truck, be investigated. We believe the non-prosecution decision is not procedurally correct. We want the necessary investigations to be carried out and a decision to be made. Our client has been victimized; let no one else be victimized," he said.