Alleged plot to assassinate Erdoğan's daughter was fake, prosecutors find seven years later

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Prosecutors have filed five separate cases against two pro-government dailies over news articles of an alleged assassination plot against Sümeyye Erdoğan, the younger daughter of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In February 2015, Akşam and Güneş newspapers claimed in their cover stories that Fetullah Gülen, a US-based cleric and a former ally of the government, had ordered the assassination of Sümeyye Erdoğan.

The newspapers had claimed that Umut Oran, the vice-chair of the main opposition Republican People' Party (CHP) at the time, and then CHP deputy Akif Hamzaçebi had messaged "Fuat Avni," a pro-Gülen whistleblowing account on Twitter, about the alleged assassination plot, publishing some dialogues.

After the news, the prosecutor's office had opened an ex officio investigation into the allegations. It had sent communications to the National Intelligence Organzation (MİT), the Cyber Crimes Department of the General Directorate of Security, and the Cyber Crimes Directorates of the SEcuirty Diectorates of İstnbul and Ankara to find out whether the published dialogues were authentic.

In the responses they sent to the prosecutors, the relevant organizations said they had not been able to make "concrete findings" regarding the content of the messages.

The prosecutor's office dismissed the investigation, concluding that the messages were fake and no suspects could be found. "... it is understood that the allegations in the news were not true," it said.

Complaints by CHP politicians

After the prosecutors' decision, Oran and Hamzaçebi filed a complaint with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which sent the file to the İstanbul Press Prosecutor's Office due to "lack of jurisdiction."

Bakırköy Press Prosecutor Hüseyin Parlakkılıç filed for separate cases and Prosecutor Mustafa Gökay filed one case against the two newspapers for "successive insult through the press and libel."

In the indictment he issued, Parlakkılıç said the expert report showed that the published messages were "not real Twitter messages but an effort to fabricate evidence in an amateurish way." (HA/VK)