17.10.2026 11:32
It has emerged that in the café in Tunceli where university student Gülistan Doku, who has been missing since January 5, 2020, worked as the upstairs floor supervisor, only entrance and exit footage was included in the investigation file. The café's owner at the time said that there were approximately 15 cameras, that he reported the cameras on the upper floor to the police, but that he did not know whether the recordings had been obtained. Therefore, it could not be determined whether the detained Mustafa Türkay Sonel was on the upper floor that day.
It has emerged that in the cafe where university student Gülistan Doku (21), who has been missing in TUNCELİ since January 5, 2020, worked, the footage of the upper floor for which she was responsible is not in the case file, and only footage of entry to and exit from the cafe is included. The owner of the workplace on the date of the incident, in his re-taken statement, said that there were approximately 15 cameras in the cafe, that he reported the cameras on the upper floor to the police, but that he did not know whether the recordings in question were obtained.
In the investigation into the disappearance of Gülistan Doku, a second-year student in the Child Development Department at Munzur University, on January 5, 2020, new details have emerged regarding the security cameras of the cafe where she worked. It was stated that security camera footage of Doku's arrival at and departure from the cafe located on the ground floor of the building where her ex-boyfriend Zeinal Abakarov and his family also lived, one day before her disappearance, on January 4, 2020, was included in the investigation file, but that the recordings of the interior sections of the business and the upper floor where she worked are not in the file.
I REPORTED THE CAMERAS ON THE UPPER FLOOR TO THE POLICE
A co-worker who worked at the cafe during the same period as Gülistan Doku stated in the statement taken by the gendarmerie after the investigation was reopened that Doku served as the person responsible for the upper floor of the business and that her work area was the upper floor of the cafe. The owner of the cafe on the date of the incident also stated in his statement re-taken by the gendarmerie as a witness that there were approximately 15 security cameras at different points of the business and that there were also cameras on the upper floor. The owner of the workplace said that during the initial period of the investigation he reported the cameras on the upper floor to the police, but that he did not know whether the recordings in question were obtained. The owner of the company that installed the cafe's security camera system also stated in his statement taken after the investigation was reopened that during the period when the incident occurred they installed approximately 15 security cameras in the business, including on the upper floor. Because the footage belonging to the upper floor is not in the file, it could not be determined from these recordings whether the suspect Mustafa Türkay Sonel, who is detained within the scope of the investigation, was on the upper floor of the cafe on the date in question.
SEARCH EFFORTS CONTINUE
A special team of 30 people, formed at the request of the Ministry of Justice and by the instruction of the Ministry of Interior for the purpose of reaching Gülistan Doku's lifeless body, continues its work. The team, consisting of Gendarmerie Search and Rescue (JAK) and JASAT teams affiliated with the Tunceli Provincial Gendarmerie Command, is conducting searches under the coordination and participation of Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor Ebru Cansu. Scanning is being carried out with underground imaging devices in areas determined based on narrowed database data and suspicious points. In the efforts continuing over an area of approximately 150 kilometers, Doku's lifeless body has not yet been reached.
38 PEOPLE ARRESTED IN THE INVESTIGATION
Within the scope of the investigation conducted by the Tunceli and Erzurum chief public prosecutor's offices regarding the disappearance of Gülistan Doku, 38 people were arrested. Among those arrested are the then Governor of Tunceli, Tuncay Sonel; his son Mustafa Türkay Sonel; his wife Handan Sonel; his former close protection officer Şükrü Eroğlu; former employee of the Special Provincial Administration Erdoğan Elaldı; Gülistan Doku's ex-boyfriend Zeinal Abakarov; Abakarov's stepfather Engin Yücer and mother Cemile Yücer; police officer Gökhan Ertok, who was dismissed from the profession; Umut Altaş's father Celal Altaş and mother Nurşen Arıkan; Ferhat Güven; Mehmet Aca; security guard Fatih Özmen; the then Tunceli Public Order Branch Director Ertuğrul Aslan; Tunceli State Hospital Chief Physician Çağdaş Özdemir; the then Deputy Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Ali Kahraman and his wife Burçin Hızlı Kahraman; and some police officers.