'SIM card' detail in the testimony of former Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel: I gave the instruction to do what was necessary

The 3-day police interrogation of former Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel, who was detained in Elazığ as part of the Gülistan Doku investigation and brought to Erzurum on April 17, 2026, has been completed, and he has been referred to the courthouse.

It was learned that the prosecutor's office requested the arrest of former Tunceli Governor Tuncay Sonel on 5 charges. The prosecutor's office requested Sonel's arrest for the crimes of 'Destroying, concealing, or altering evidence of a crime (TCK 281/1), Blocking or disrupting a system, destroying data (TCK 244/2), Violation of privacy (TCK 134/1), Unlawful acquisition of personal data (TCK 136), and Damaging, destroying, or concealing an official document (TCK 205).'

Sonel stated the following in his testimony:

“I did not send any payment to the Aca Bilişim company. I have no knowledge of this. No such payment was made either by the governorship or the municipality where I served as a trustee. The company owned by Mehmet Aca had no authority in the management of the governorship's social media accounts. Similarly, the municipality had no such business. However, as I mentioned above, since we were trustees, we did consult Gökhan for ideas from time to time regarding threats received via social media. At the same time, I did not have Gökhan do anything like loading followers on social media. I had no such request. The governorship's social media account was handled within the governorship. That is, we carried out the operations within the Press Directorate. We did not pay any money to anyone for this.”

Responding to the prosecutor's question regarding the 5,000 TL sent on February 7, 2020, 5,000 TL on March 17, 2020, and 20,000 TL on November 5, 2021, by Şükrü Eroğlu, Sonel provided the following statements:

“These money transfers were normal transfers. We sent them from time to time as pocket money. Gökhan would also request them. I was sending them from my own personal account. If Gökhan technically needed something, I would send it when he asked.”

When asked, “Given that you stated these payments were sent upon his request because you asked him questions a few times regarding the governorship's social media accounts, and considering that a single 5,000 TL amount at that time corresponded almost to a civil servant's salary, why did you make the payment from your personal account instead of the official governorship account for operations related to the official social media account?”, Tuncay Sonel replied with the words: “Because he needed it, he asked for it, and I gave it; I generally provided help in this way. That is why I sent it.”

Sonel's prosecutor's testimony has emerged. According to the report on Halktv, Sonel admitted that he sent the SIM card belonging to Gülistan Doku to his protection officer, Gökhan Ertok, instead of to the official investigative authorities. 

Sonel argued that his reason for giving the SIM card to the protection officer was to “reach the missing girl,” “determine the last signal,” and “get results as soon as possible.” 

Sonel responded to the question directed at him regarding the SIM card as follows:

“There are one or two areas in the rural field that were searched personally under my instruction. Or rather, there were areas I told them to check when we received information about a few places. I don't remember exactly, but it doesn't exceed one or two. One day when I was at the governorship, just as I was going out, I heard a tearful voice. When I looked, I saw it was Aygül Doku. At the top of the stairs, she said, “Mr. Governor, there is a SIM card.” I told my protection and private secretary to do what was necessary. Then I left and continued my work. I had our protection officer send this card to Gökhan, whom we knew as a commissioner at the Ankara Police Department, to have him take a look at it. Since search and rescue operations were continuing intensively, I sent it to have the location information checked and at the same time to learn where the last call was made. The protection officer sent this card. Gökhan determined a location in the area under the viaduct after his examination. This was conveyed to me. Because the girl's sister said, 'I cannot go to the prosecutor, I cannot reach them, they won't take it,' I took it. This incident happened two or three weeks after the disappearance. We are human too; as Governor, I followed such a path to find our missing girl as soon as possible. Therefore, there was an area I marked as a search zone due to the information that came out of this.”

Sonel gave the following answer to the prosecutor's question regarding whether he sent money to the company named “Aca Bilişim” and who managed the Tunceli Governorship's social media accounts:

Regarding the prosecutor's question about when and how the envelope containing Doku's SIM card and the report was delivered to him, he used the following expressions:

“I have no information about this. No report came to me either. I also have no information about the process of delivering the SIM card to the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office. I did not tell Gökhan ERTOK that the necessary examination on the SIM card was done by the Cyber branch and that nothing was found inside. I have had no such statement. Again, I did not say that I was with the Chief Public Prosecutor of that period when I spoke to Gökhan on the phone.”

Sonel responded to the question regarding the date the SIM card was sent as follows:

“I don't remember. I don't know which day it was sent either. I gave the instruction for the SIM card to be taken directly by the close protection officer Şükrü Eroğlu and for what was necessary to be done.”