20.04.2026 22:00
In the investigation of Gülistan Doku, 10 serious items have emerged suggesting that former Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel directly intervened in the process. According to the allegations, Doku's SIM card was sent to a "private name" outside official channels to delete data, and personal payments were made through the governor's protection for this operation. Claims that Sonel gave orders for many actions, from the deletion of camera and hospital records to the confinement of search efforts solely to the dam lake, changed the course of the case.
In the investigation of Gülistan Doku, whose fate has remained unclear for years, allegations that former Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel used state power to destroy evidence have caused an uproar. The 10 critical points reflected in the investigation file present an accusation of an "organized evil" scenario, claiming that evidence was destroyed with the governor's budget and that the investigation was deliberately misdirected.
1- EXAMINATION OF THE SIM CARD OUTSIDE OFFICIAL CHANNELS AND DELIVERY TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON
It has been learned that Şükrü Eroğlu, the bodyguard, stated that former Governor Tuncay Sonel personally asked him to send a closed envelope by bus to Gökhan Ertok, a former police officer known as "Social Media Gürkan" in Ankara.
2- DIRECT INSTRUCTION FROM THE GOVERNOR
It was reported that Gökhan Ertok expressed that while the SIM card was on the way, Tuncay Sonel called him via WhatsApp and said, "I know about the issue, do what is necessary, investigate thoroughly, the press is coming down hard on us."
3- KEEPING THE SIM CARD UNDER GOVERNOR'S CONTROL
Gökhan Ertok stated that the SIM card remained under the Governor's control for 8 days between January 9 and January 17, 2020, and when he reached it, the messages had already been deleted.
4- REQUEST FOR PERMANENT DELETION OF DATA
Ertok claimed that the Governor used him to ensure that the data was deleted in a way that could not be recovered.
5- INFORMAL PAYMENTS
It was recorded that the Governor's bodyguard Şükrü Eroğlu transferred a total of 30,000 TL (5+5+20 thousand TL) to Gökhan Ertok from his personal account on different dates. Eroğlu claimed that he sent these payments as "pocket money and tips" upon the Governor's instruction and that he received the money back in cash from the Governor.
6- IMPLICATION OF "LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR" REGARDING THE DELETION OF OFFICIAL RECORDS
It was reported that suspect Celal Altaş stated that the camera recordings at the police station and the hospital entry records could not be deleted by an ordinary citizen. Altaş directly pointed to the Governor regarding the deletion of records by saying, "Whoever the local administrator is in Tunceli, such operations can only be carried out under their guidance or instruction."
7- INCONSISTENCY IN HOSPITAL RECORDS AND DELETION OF HOSPITAL RECORDS
It was emphasized that the hospital entry record of Gülistan dated December 31, 2019, was deleted from the system in a professional and intentional manner, as determined by an expert report. It was reported that Chief Physician Çağdaş Özdemir stated that he was appointed to these critical positions by Governor Sonel and that he was not allowed to resign despite wanting to.
8- DIRECTION OF SEARCH ACTIVITIES
Suspect Ferhat Güven stated that the then AFAD director showed a video from the bridge to Governor Sonel, who instructed, "Let's intensify the search efforts in the water, let's continue all operations through this area." It was learned that this situation raised suspicions that the investigation was focused on the possibility of suicide instead of other possibilities.
9- REPLACEMENT OF K POINT CAMERAS WITHOUT MALFUNCTION
It was reported that just 2 days after Gülistan's disappearance, a decision was made to replace all cameras at K points (located on dominant hills) in the city, but there was no official record or maintenance notification regarding the justification for this operation.
10- SUSPICION REGARDING THE GOVERNOR'S DIRECT IDENTIFICATION OF THE CORPSE
According to Şükrü Eroğlu's statement, Governor Tuncay Sonel personally looked at whether a found corpse belonged to Gülistan Doku and decided, "It's not Gülistan," while the family was not called to the scene for identification.