Three public officials in Turkey have been suspended and one of them detained over allegations that they improperly accessed land registry records belonging to Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, the TR724 news website reported.
The Directorate General of Land Registry and Cadastre suspended the three employees and launched an administrative investigation. One of them, identified only by the initials D.A., who worked at the land registry office in the Mediterranean resort town of Kaş in southern Turkey, was detained on orders from the Kaş Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
D.A. told investigators that he accessed Gürlek’s property records after being directed by a woman he met on social media. He said he obtained information on four properties and shared the details via messages. In a statement to gendarmerie officers, he sought to benefit from provisions that can reduce penalties for suspects who cooperate with the authorities, saying he did not knowingly participate in a crime and had been “used.”
The developments follow a public dispute over Gürlek’s assets after main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel disclosed details of the minister’s property holdings at a press conference.
Özel said Gürlek owned multiple properties and that the combined estimated value of his current and previously sold real estate totaled about 452 million Turkish lira ($10 million). He argued that such wealth would be difficult to accumulate on the salary of a prosecutor and senior judge over the course of Gürlek’s career.
Gürlek previously also served as Istanbul’s chief public prosecutor and presided over a number of high-profile and politically sensitive cases. As a judge, he headed the court that convicted philanthropist Osman Kavala and other defendants in the 2013 Gezi Park protests case, one of Turkey’s most controversial trials. He was also involved in cases against prominent figures including Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş, journalist Can Dündar and opposition politician Canan Kaftancıoğlu as well as prosecutions targeting Sözcü newspaper staff and other journalists on terrorism-related charges.
As chief prosecutor, he later led or oversaw investigations targeting opposition figures, including jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, against whom prosecutors filed sweeping indictments carrying potential long prison sentences.
