Cemal Enginyurt's adviser was arrested. His police and prosecutor statements emerge

Cem Tekinoğlu, an adviser to New Party Istanbul lawmaker Cemal Enginyurt, denied all accusations after his arrest in an Ankara investigation into alleged encouragement of prostitution and laundering criminal assets. His police and prosecutor statements have now emerged.

The investigation, conducted by the Smuggling, Narcotics and Economic Crimes Bureau, also involved allegations of brokering prostitution or providing premises. Tekinoğlu was detained and later jailed by a criminal judgeship of the peace. He rejected the charges in both his police questioning and his statement to prosecutors.

A Financial Crimes Investigation Board, or MASAK, report in the case file identified money transfers from Tekinoğlu's personal accounts and company accounts for which he was an authorized signatory. The recipients included numerous people with criminal records related to alleged encouragement, brokering or coercion into prostitution, as well as the manufacture, sale or use of narcotics.

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I am generally a charitable person, and when students in financial need asked for help, I gave them small amounts as scholarships to support their education. I had absolutely no personal gain or other benefit relationship with these people outside education.

The report also identified 58 payments between 2022 and 2026 to accounts belonging to young women, including university students. Most occurred at night and totaled 120,820 lira. The payment descriptions included “scholarship,” “course fee,” “skin-care fee,” “book fee” and “diploma fee.” Tekinoğlu said he was generally charitable and gave small amounts to students who said they needed financial help. He denied any personal benefit or other relationship with them, saying he did not even know some of the recipients.

Investigators also questioned him about reports alleging that he introduced young women to drugs at party gatherings in Ankara and drew them into prostitution networks. Tekinoğlu called those claims fabricated stories spread by people seeking to damage his reputation because of his political views. He said no one had filed a complaint accusing him of threats or harassment and denied ever using or trafficking drugs. He attributed other transactions in the MASAK report to loans, mobile-phone trading, home renovations, vehicle rentals and food purchases during his time at Munzur University. He said he could not remember some high-value transfers or the people involved.

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There is not a single complaint against me concerning the accusations of threats and harassment. I have never used drugs and I do not traffic in them.