Psychiatrist arrested for manipulating children over fake abuse report

Çetin Aydın - ISTANBUL

A psychiatrist has been arrested for providing false reports of domestic sexual abuse by manipulating children through medication and hypnosis and subsequently blackmailing families.

Five children applied to the Bakırköy Republic Prosecutor's Office in recent months, reporting that they had been subjected to domestic sexual abuse.

The Prosecutor's Office determined that all of these children received reports from the same clinic. Upon this, all domestic sexual abuse cases across Istanbul were investigated. Despite a clinic in the Bakırköy district having been established for only two years ago, it prepared reports on domestic sexual abuse for a total of 40 children and sent them to the prosecutor's offices. All of these reports bore the signature of Prof. Dr. Süleyman Salih Zoroğlu, an expert in child sexual abuse cases working at a Forensic Medicine Institution between 2010 and 2016.

Zoroğlu was dismissed from his duty in 2016 over FETÖ membership and was imprisoned for 15 months. In 2017, he was released from prison on furlough due to his mother's illness and subsequently opened a clinic in Bakırköy.

Interviews with children who were allegedly sexually abused and their families, revealed that children were given drugs at the clinic. It was determined that the children were given a drug called "ketamine," which is used for anesthesia and can cause memory loss. After taking this medication, the children believed what the psychiatrist told them with another hypnosis method and complained to their families. The children who were administered ketamine were kept either at the clinic or Zoroğlu's house.

Some children stated during their testimonies that they had not been subjected to sexual abuse. Additionally, some families alleged that Zoroğlu demanded money from them to prevent the reports from being processed.

The Istanbul police detained Zoroğlu, his assistant Ahmet Aktaş, his wife, a public servant responsible for procuring the drugs and the clinic secretary. Ketamine drugs were also found during the search of Zoroğlu's residence.

Zoroğlu admitted in his statement to the police that he administered medication to the children, claiming it was part of their treatment. However, he denied the allegations of blackmailing to the children's families. Following their testimonies, Zoroğlu and Aktaş were arrested.