Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office Opens Investigation Against Sarıgül

The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation against former Şişli Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül over allegations that he sexually assaulted 4 high school students during his tenure as mayor, after the victims' identities were established.

C.D., an employee of the municipal administration during Sarıgül's tenure as mayor, provided a statement as a suspect describing events he experienced in 2004 while interning at Şişli Industrial Vocational High School. In his statement, he alleged that A.S., the district administrator responsible for youth camps at the time, arranged for high school students to meet Sarıgül under the guise of a leadership camp, including two siblings named G.B. and M.B. According to C.D., the youth camps in question were held at Karinna Hotel in Uludağ, at Şişli Municipality's camp in Şile, and at a hotel in Kumburgaz. C.D. claimed that Sarıgül summoned people to a bedroom in his municipal office and had massages performed on them, and that he and a friend named H. were also subjected to this. He noted that H.H., Sarıgül's bodyguard, was also among those who suffered physical assault by Sarıgül. In his statement, C.D. said that Sarıgül, by establishing what could be described as a "climate of fear," reassigned those who did not comply with his demands to positions, as he put it, of exile.

C.D. also included in his statement an account involving a foreign domestic worker named Maya; he alleged that Sarıgül issued coercive orders forcing Maya into sexual relations with B.Ö. and watched them from the doorway. As part of the investigation, A.S. was taken into custody.

In the same investigation file, Oktay Özkan, a certified accountant detained on money laundering allegations, told prosecutors in his statement that he and Titanik Hotel Board Vice Chairman Temel Aygün were Sarıgül's business partners. Özkan stated that he received money in plastic bags from Temel Aygün and delivered it 7-8 times to Sarıgül's residence at Platin Sitesi, and claimed that their partnership stake in the Titanic Hotel in Belek was 48 percent. Meanwhile, the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor's Office issued detention orders for 10 additional suspects in the money laundering investigation targeting the Sarıgül family.