02.05.2026 16:07
In the investigation regarding Gülistan Doku in Tunceli, the work of inspectors appointed by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health has been completed. The prepared report was sent to the Erzurum Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
The investigation into Gülistan Doku, a university student who went missing in Tunceli on January 5, 2020, continues.
The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK), with its June 2024 decree, appointed Ebru Cansu, one of Turkey's three female chief prosecutors, to Tunceli. Upon assuming office, she immediately took down Gülistan Doku's file and began reviewing it. Following Chief Prosecutor Ebru Cansu's directive to re-examine the investigation, a special team was formed, consisting of personnel from the Gendarmerie Crime Investigation Teams (JASAT), also known as 'Gendarmerie Detectives'. All KGVS footage and PTS records from the city, covering the day before and the day of Gülistan Doku's disappearance, were collected. New footage of Gülistan was also found, including 67 main artery cameras, totaling 70 KGVS, along with an additional 700 hours of footage from security cameras, all added to the case file. The footage, revealing where Gülistan came from before going to the cafe to meet her boyfriend Zeinal Abarakov, and when she left the cafe to visit her teacher, was reviewed 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 case, and HTS and PTS analyses were conducted. After the necessary work was completed, an operation was launched. In the case, which evolved from a missing person file to 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, a suspect in the case residing in the USA.
FORMER GOVERNOR AND HIS SON AMONG 12 SUSPECTS ARRESTED Among the suspects referred to the courthouse after procedures at the gendarmerie, Mustafa Türkay Sonel, son of Tuncay Sonel, along with Erdoğan Elaldı, a former employee of the Special Provincial Administration who was found to have had the last contact with Gülistan Doku through narrowed cell site analysis, were arrested on charges of '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 on charges of 'Concealing and destroying evidence of a crime'. Ferhat Güven was arrested and sent to prison on charges of 'Robbery' for his action against Gülistan Doku's sister Aygül Doku. Çağdaş Özdemir, the former chief physician of Tunceli State Hospital, who was detained in Bursa on allegations of deleting Gülistan Doku's hospital records and brought to Tunceli Courthouse, was also arrested on charges of 'Falsifying, destroying, or concealing official documents'. Tuncay Sonel was arrested on charges of 'Destroying, concealing, or altering evidence of a crime', 'Obstructing, disrupting, destroying, or altering data in an information system, unlawfully providing or seizing 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 control. Burçin Y. and Yücel E., IT personnel at Tunceli State Hospital, who were detained on allegations of deleting hospital records with the charge of 'Destroying and concealing evidence', were released under judicial control conditions.
PREPARED CASE FILE AND REPORTS SENT TO CHIEF PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE Regarding the investigation, the work of chief civil inspectors and chief police inspectors assigned by the Ministry of Interior to investigate whether there was negligence by police and governorate personnel who served in the city during the period when detained suspect Tuncay Sonel was governor, and whose names appear in statements and records, has been completed. Additionally, it was stated that the work of inspectors assigned by the Ministry of Health regarding the records at Tunceli State Hospital, which Gülistan Doku visited before disappearing and were found to have been deleted, has also been completed. It was learned that the case files and reports prepared after the completed work by the Ministry of Interior inspectors were sent to the Erzurum Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.