Justice minister: Gülistan Doku's body may have been destroyed with chemicals
Turkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the investigation into Gülistan Doku had produced findings suggesting her body was moved several times, and that serious allegations and findings about public officials attempting to destroy evidence were also under examination.
RastinewsTurkish Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the body of Gülistan Doku, a university student missing in Dersim since 5 January 2020, may have been destroyed using chemical substances. Briefing journalists who visited the Justice Ministry from Istanbul, Gürlek said significant progress had been made in the case but that it was too early to call the investigation complete.
According to press reports, investigators have obtained the statement given to the FBI by Umut Altaş, a fugitive defendant arrested in the United States whose extradition Turkey has requested, and Altaş admitted he was at the scene at the time of the killing. According to the record sent to Turkey under mutual legal assistance, Altaş said Doku was shot dead inside a vehicle by Mustafa Türkay Sonel, the son of the then governor of Tunceli, Tuncay Sonel, that the body was carried to the boot, and that the governor's bodyguard Şükrü Eroğlu then became involved.
"There are statements that the body may have been moved several times"
Gürlek said finding Doku's body was one of the most important issues in the investigation, and that some statements in the file indicate the body may have been moved several times and was last taken to a point on the Pertek road.
Gürlek said the possibility that the body was destroyed entirely using chemical substances was also being assessed. He added that serious allegations and findings were under examination concerning public officials who, in the earlier period, are said to have used their powers improperly to obstruct the case or destroy evidence. It made no difference whether a person held the post of governor or any other office, Gürlek said: where there is concrete suspicion of a crime, the relevant prosecutor's office will take the necessary steps within the law, regardless of title.
The Rojin Kabaiş investigation
Turning to the investigation into the suspicious death of Rojin Kabaiş, a 21-year-old university student who went missing in Van on 27 September 2024 and whose body was found on the lakeshore on 15 October 2024, Gürlek said DNA analysis had been completed while technical examination of her mobile phone was continuing. As of now, he said, no concrete data leading to a direct and definitive conclusion had been obtained.
Gülistan Doku went missing in Dersim on 5 January 2020. The investigation has since been conducted by the chief public prosecutor's offices of Tunceli and Erzurum.