Turkish authorities detained 38 suspects in two separate investigations, including a renewed probe into the 2009 helicopter crash that killed politician Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and an espionage investigation involving the country’s financial intelligence agency, said Justice Minister Akın Gürlek on Friday.
Gürlek said 33 people were detained in a second wave of operations linked to the crash that killed Yazıcıoğlu, founder of the Great Unity Party (BBP) and five others.
Judicial proceedings were launched against 47 suspects, 10 of whom were already in prison. Authorities were searching for four others, Gürlek said. Police carried out simultaneous searches and seizures at 45 locations across 16 provinces in the Ankara-based operation.
The investigation is being coordinated by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office with support from Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and Ankara police.
Authorities suspect the individuals of involvement in premeditated murder in connection with activities attributed to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and of committing offenses intended to prevent the circumstances surrounding the crash from being uncovered, according to Gürlek.
Yazıcıoğlu and five others were killed when their helicopter crashed in the southern province of Kahramanmaraş on March 25, 2009.
Investigators are examining allegations that search-and-rescue operations after the crash were deliberately misdirected, false information reports were prepared and witnesses and confidential witnesses were manipulated.
In a separate operation on Friday, authorities launched judicial proceedings against 22 suspects as part of what prosecutors described as a "political or military espionage” investigation involving the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK).
Five suspects were detained in simultaneous operations centered in Istanbul and also conducted in Ankara. Arrest warrants were issued for 16 suspects believed to be abroad, while authorities continued searching for one other suspect, Gürlek noted.
The investigation focuses on alleged unauthorized activity involving MASAK’s Integrated Financial Intelligence System (EMIS) and the security of its records.
Prosecutors say they have identified links between individuals and companies involved with developing and maintaining MASAK’s digital infrastructure between 2012 and 2018 and what authorities describe as FETÖ’s clandestine network.
Investigators found that EMIS software had been developed by AGMLAB A.Ş. since 2012 and identified corporate and management links between AGMLAB, MRD A.Ş. and Barış Ata A.Ş., a company previously shut down by government decree, Gürlek said.
Authorities allege some shareholders held senior roles in clandestine networks associated with the military, information technology, defense industry and gendarmerie.
Technical examinations also found that safeguards protecting a list of politically exposed persons had been disabled, after which searches involving President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his relatives and several ministers were carried out, according to Gürlek.
Investigators also identified possible irregularities in the integrity of some records and indications that certain data fields may have later been deleted. Gürlek said administrators’ activities could not be retrospectively audited because relevant system logs had not been maintained.
A former MASAK deputy chair was among the 22 suspects targeted in the investigation.
The minister said authorities would continue both investigations.