Businessman jailed in Turkey over student's disappearance probe

Businessman Mehmet Aca has been arrested and jailed as part of a renewed investigation into the 2020 disappearance of university student Gülistan Doku in Tunceli, Turkey. Aca, owner of Samimi Haber, faces charges of inciting the destruction of data and tampering with evidence, specifically concerning Doku's social media and communication accounts.

According to the investigation file, Doku's family had issued a backup SIM card, which was sent to Ankara on January 18, 2020. Subsequently, her social media and communication accounts were allegedly accessed. Forensic analysis and HTS reports indicate that Doku's Instagram account was accessed on January 17 and logged out early on January 18. Between 6:20 AM and 9:03 AM on January 18, data on her WhatsApp account was reportedly deleted.

Crucially, a 245-second phone call occurred between Aca and former police officer Gökhan Ertok at 9:09 AM, shortly after the WhatsApp data was deleted. This call, along with others that morning, was deemed "contrary to the ordinary course of life" by the Criminal Court of Peace. This was particularly noted because there was no prior history of such consecutive calls between Aca and Ertok. Following these calls, Aca reportedly contacted Şükrü Eroğlu, a security guard for the then-Governor Tuncay Sonel, at 10:36 AM.

In his statements to the police, prosecutor, and court, Aca denied any knowledge of Doku's SIM card or her social media passwords. He claimed the phone calls with Ertok were related to Tunceli Governorship's social media and promotional activities. However, in his prosecutor statement, Aca presented a different narrative, alleging Ertok called him about a broken computer and asked for 100,000 Turkish Lira from Eroğlu for repairs. Aca stated he warned Ertok not to send the money, calling him a "scammer," but claimed the money was sent anyway. Aca also addressed why a street in Tunceli was named after him, stating he had given a significant sum of cash, estimated between 400,000-500,000 Turkish Lira, to the then-Governor Tuncay Sonel in 2017-2018 for the aid of orphaned children in the province, a transaction he claims was done in person at the governor's office.

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2017-2018 yıllarında Tuncay Sonel beni arayarak yetim ve öksüz Tuncelili çocuklar için yardım istedi. IBAN’dan olmaz, yanıma gel, elden teslim et’ dedi. Tunceli Valilik makamında arka dinlenme odasında kendisine elden, tam miktarını hatırlamamakla beraber, 400-500 bin TL civarı parayı teslim ettim.