An opposition lawmaker has asked Turkey’s interior minister to investigate allegations that workplace harassment, or mobbing, drove a police officer in İstanbul to die by suicide after he fined the relative of a district governor.
Murat Bakan of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) submitted a parliamentary question regarding the death of police officer Mehmet Erbil, who shot himself in his patrol car on May 18 and later died in the hospital.
Bakan said Erbil had issued a traffic fine to a person in İstanbul’s Başakşehir district for driving without a license after allegedly being warned that the individual was a relative of the district’s governor. According to the allegations cited by Bakan, the district governor later contacted the district police chief to complain about the officer.
Bakan called for an investigation into claims that Erbil was later subjected to mobbing, told by superiors that “we do not want to work with you” and subsequently reassigned to the Bağcılar district.
The allegations also include claims that a superintendent visited a café where Erbil was spending time with friends on his days off and carried out identity checks on those present.
Bakan called for investigations into the district governor, the district police chief and the superintendent allegedly involved in the incidents.
Turan Eşelioğlu, the president of the Police Children Solidarity and Assistance Association, said in a social media post addressed to the interior minister that some of Erbil’s colleagues were prepared to testify about the allegations.
Analysts and former police officers cite long working hours, low pay, intense psychological stress and mounting financial problems as factors contributing to suicide within the police force, saying the trend points to a deepening institutional crisis.
Concerns about suicides in Turkey’s police force have been growing in recent years. A study conducted by the Police Union found that one in three police officers had considered suicide.
According to the Police Suicide Memorial platform, 28 police officers have died by suicide since the beginning of 2026. The platform recorded a total of 82 police suicides in 2025.
