WHAT HAPPENED TO GÜLİSTAN DOKU?

Family of missing Gülistan Doku to meet President Erdoğan

It has been 264 days since university student Gülistan Doku went missing in eastern Dersim province. Having met Minister of Interior Soylu yesterday, the Doku family will also meet President and ruling AKP Chair Erdoğan next week.

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Family of missing Gülistan Doku to meet President Erdoğan

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Gülistan Doku, a student of Munzur University in Turkey's eastern province of Dersim, went missing on January 5, 2020. While search efforts continued for some time in the Uzunçayır Dam, where she was seen for the last time, these efforts were also ended as of August 18.

Considering that the teams came across no trace of Doku, it has been confirmed that she is not in the water. There is also still no detention warrant against Zeınal Abarakov, the chief suspect in the investigation file.

In a social media post shared a few days ago, Aygül Doku, the elder sister of Gülistan Doku, announced that they were on their way to the capital city of Ankara to meet state officials about the incident.

The Doku family met Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu yesterday (September 23). They have also got an appointment to meet President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

'They have promised'

As reported by JinNews women's news website, the family has indicated that the meeting with Minister Soylu was good on their part. "They have promised that the search efforts to find Gülistan will continue. Believing in this, we keep not losing our hope. We will also meet the President next week. We hope that this meeting will also go well for us," the family has added.

What happened?

University student Gülistan Doku did not return to the Credit and Dormitories (KYK) Women's Dormitory on January 5, 2020. As her roommates could not reach her by phone, they got worried and appealed to the Tunceli Provincial Directorate of Security. Her family was also informed about the issue. The family came to Dersim on January 6 and reported Gülistan Doku missing at the security directorate.

Consulting her friends and tracking the signals of her mobile phone, police officers also examined the city surveillance cameras and found that she got on the university minibus at the bus stop in Atatürk Neighborhood at 11.29. However, even though the city surveillance cameras along the way were examined, it could not be determined where she got off.

The driver of the minibus was identified and summoned to depose. The driver said that the minibus did not enter the university as it was Sunday, the minibus returned empty and he could not remember where Gülistan Doku got off.

It is speculated that Doku got off at Sarı Saltuk Bridge in the city center, the only bus stop outside the sight of surveillance cameras.

Thanks to the struggle of women and the Doku family, the authorities decided to drain the water of the dam to find her.

On June 17, a petition was submitted to the Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to arrest Zeınal Abarakov, the chief suspect of the file.

On August 29, the expert report was completed. Afterwards, Ali Çimen, the attorney of the Doku family, made another application for the arrest of Abaravakov. Rejecting this request, the Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office decided to take his deposition.

On August 4, the expert review of the footage that allegedly shows Gülistan Doku jumping off a bridge was completed.

According to the review by the National Criminal Bureau firm, what is seen in the footage is not Doku jumping off the Dinar Bridge, where she was last seen, but "residual pixels."

"The effect on the bridge abutment is a pixel residue and definitely not a water column created by a person or object that falls into the water," the report concluded.

In a statement released by the Tunceli Governor's Office on August 18, 2020, it was announced that the search efforts ongoing in the dam ended.

(EMK/SD)