Probe launched into prosecutors for declaring assassination plot against Erdoğan’s daughter as ‘fake’

Oya Armutçu – ANKARA

DHA photo

Turkey’s Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) has launched investigations into two prosecutors who declared as fake the story of an alleged assassination plot against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s daughter.

Following a lengthy investigation by the HSYK’s Press Office, the HSYK announced probes into series of incidents that followed reports in dailies Akşam and Güneş of a purported plot against Sümeyye Erdoğan, citing alleged private Twitter messages between then-Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP) deputies Umut Oran, Akif Hamzaçebi, and journalist Emre Uslu.

Oran and Hamzaçebi robustly rejected the claims at the time and filed criminal complaints with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which later appealed the case to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office Press Crimes Bureau.

Prosecutor Hüseyin Parlakkılıç then filed four separate cases against the two newspapers, while prosecutor Mustafa Gökay filed also cases against the newspapers on charges of “slander.”

The so-called “assassination plot” against Erdoğan’s daughter, reported by Güneş and Akşam in February this year, was later declared a fabrication by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, daily Cumhuriyet reported on Aug. 9.

The indictment prepared by Parlakkılıç said Twitter messages between Oran and Uslu, in which the assassination plot against Sümeyye Erdoğan had been referred to, were complete fabrications and attempts to “manufacture evidence,” according to the report.    

Pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) newspapers Akşam, Güneş and Star claimed on Feb. 20 that the president’s daughter would be subjected to an assassination plot shortly before the June 7 election, citing Twitter messages that they claimed to have been sent by Uslu to Oran on Jan. 31.