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Investment fund probe expands to senior officials as prosecutors seek lengthy sentences for journalists
Turkey’s investment fund investigation has widened to include serving regulators, former senior financial officials and political figures, while prosecutors are seeking prison sentences of up to nearly 19 years for journalists who reported or commented on the case.
Mustafa Alper Taş, the serving head of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency’s (BDDK) Fourth Implementation Department, was remanded on Nov 7 on a bribery charge after being detained four days earlier.
Former Capital Markets Board (SPK) deputy chair Enver Usca and former SPK Market Surveillance and Supervision Department head Ercan Urkan were also remanded on Nov 7 on bribery allegations. Former SPK Corporate Finance Department head Kürşat Sait Babuçcu was released under judicial supervision, while former SPK board member Bülent Murat Haholu was released after giving a statement to prosecutors.
The latest arrests follow proceedings against several other former senior officials. Former Borsa İstanbul chief Korkmaz Enes Ergun was remanded on a bribery allegation after his detention on Oct 31. Former SPK department head Erman Çete was remanded on Oct 26.
Erkan Kilimci, a former Central Bank deputy governor who later served on the board of Tera Yatırım, was remanded on Sep 25 as the investigation expanded to Tera and other fund-related companies.
Former Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, who resigned as the deputy chair of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after the crisis unfolded, was remanded on Nov 5 on allegations of violating the Capital Markets Law and membership in a criminal organization.
Prosecutors cited Kaya’s sale of Özata Denizcilik shares shortly before the decision to liquidate investment funds and alleged that she had access to nonpublic information. Kaya denies wrongdoing.
Former AKP deputy Ertan Aydın was remanded on Oct 26 after prosecutors appealed an earlier judicial-control decision.
The investigation has also reached state-controlled insurance companies. Former Türkiye Sigorta and Türkiye Hayat Emeklilik general manager Taha Çakmak was initially released under judicial supervision, resigned on Oct. 15 and was later detained again and remanded. Prosecutors alleged improper transfers of Türkiye Sigorta funds and benefits received from Tera Group.
Gürol Sami Özer, who was Türkiye Sigorta deputy general manager, was also detained and remanded in late October.
Former SPK chair İbrahim Ömer Gönül has been questioned as a suspect but was not detained. He was released under judicial supervision after a second round of questioning on Nov 5.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said on Nov 3 that the investigation covered 433 suspects, including 112 in pretrial detention and 186 under judicial supervision. Arrest warrants had been issued for another 38 people. Same-day reports following subsequent arrests gave differing totals for the number held in pretrial detention.
The investigation began after prosecutors requested information from the SPK on Aug 19 concerning unusual price movements in Borsa İstanbul-listed shares. Regulators moved on Sep. 17 to liquidate 131 investment funds after liquidity problems emerged.
Investigators are examining allegations that funds coordinated transactions to artificially inflate share prices. The probe also involves suspected market manipulation, insider trading, bribery, money laundering and organized criminal activity.
Gürlek has described the investigation as involving a broader criminal network reaching into the upper levels of the financial bureaucracy, including alleged bribery aimed at disabling regulatory oversight. He has also alleged links between market manipulators and parts of the media. The allegations have not been established at trial.
Journalists facing charges
Separately, at least five journalists have been detained in connection with reporting or commentary about the fund scandal.
Sözcü editor Mustafa Balcı and Bizim TV journalist Şaban Sevinç were detained on Oct 8 and remanded the following day on allegations of "publicly disseminating misleading information."
Their case concerns posts about AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik and Osman Arıkan Nacar, whose name appeared in the fund investigation. Balcı shared a photograph of the two together, while Sevinç discussed the allegations on X and YouTube.
Prosecutors are seeking up to 10 years and 10 months in prison for Balcı and 18 years, 11 months and 15 days for Sevinç on combinations of charges including disseminating misleading information, defamation and insulting a public official. Both remain in pretrial detention, with their first hearing scheduled for Nov 27.
Journalists İsmail Saymaz and Murat Ağırel were also investigated following an Oct 7 Sözcü TV broadcast about Trade Minister Ömer Bolat’s investments. They were initially released with reporting requirements and travel bans before prosecutors appealed and both were placed under house arrest.
Prosecutors are seeking between five years, two months and 14 years, 10 months in prison for each journalist. The charges include publicly disseminating misleading information, defamation, insulting a public official, unlawfully disclosing personal data and revealing information alleged to constitute commercial, banking or customer secrets.
Prosecutors say their television discussion linked Bolat to the fund investigation without sufficient documentary support and disclosed information concerning his investments in Hedef Portföy. Saymaz and Ağırel reject the accusations.
Ağırel is currently imprisoned in a separate money-laundering investigation rather than the case concerning his reporting on the fund scandal. Saymaz remains under house arrest.
Journalist Bahadır Özgür, who had extensively covered the investigation, was detained on Oct 15 on suspicion of violating the confidentiality of the investigation. He was later released under judicial control, including a travel ban and regular reporting requirements.
COP31 approaches
As the UN Climate Cummit (COP31) is set to kick off on Nov 9, asurvey found that 90% of respondents did not know Turkey would host COP31. Despite low awareness of the summit, 77% supported accelerating solar and wind investment, 78% opposed opening additional coal mines and 71% said they were worried about climate change.
Climate reporting also challenged the idea that the Black Sea will become a safe haven as Turkey warms. Climate scientist Murat Türkeş said future habitability will depend on water, employment, infrastructure and disaster exposure—not temperature alone—and warned that poorer people may be unable either to adapt or relocate.
Research on the İğneada Floodplain Forests found that the Erikli floodplain shrank by 16% between 1984 and 2014, while wetlands at Sakagöl disappeared or deteriorated. Average temperatures in the region rose 1.8°C over 44 years, and researchers warned that drought, water stress and human pressure were threatening biodiversity and carbon storage.
At the biodiversity COP17 in Yerevan, experts from Turkey and Armenia called for cooperation on shared rivers, water data and cross-border ecosystems. Their proposals showed how ecological interdependence persists despite the closed border and absence of formal diplomatic relations.
bianet faces investigation and censorship
A court ordered the removal of a bianet report concerning allegations of harassment, blackmail and exploitation targeting women students in Dersim. Bianet was instructed to comply within four hours but was not served with the underlying ruling, leaving the basis and origin of the request unclear.
Separately, bianet’s managing editor was questioned under “disinformation” provision over a report about the arrest of another journalist. He said the disputed allegations had been clearly attributed and that the article included both the authorities’ denial and the jailed reporter’s account.
These cases appeared alongside Turkey’s low placement in the 2026 World Justice Project index. The country ranked 117th of 143 overall, 135th in fundamental rights and 136th in constraints on government power.
Gender and LGBTI+ rights
Police detained 12 trans women during home raids in İzmir. The investigation cited alleged prostitution-related and organized-crime offenses, but its details remained unclear because prosecutors imposed a confidentiality order. Campaigners linked the raids to the broader anti-LGBTI+ crackdown, under which 82 people remained imprisoned.
Concerns about LGBTI+ expression also reached COP31. Speakers in the summit’s host-managed Green Zone were asked to pledge compliance with undefined standards of “public morality.” A lawyer interviewed by Bianet warned that the provision could encourage self-censorship around gender equality and LGBTI+ rights.
bianet’s October male violence monitoring report recorded at least 20 women killed by men, 45 women injured, nine children abused and seven women harassed. It brought the number of women killed during the first ten months of 2026 to 242, while another 32 women’s deaths in October were classified as suspicious.
Children and labor
A bianet feature examined the treatment of children enrolled in Vocational Education Centers, or MESEMs. Education Ministry figures showed 553,728 students in the system and 31,747 workplace accidents. A 16-year-old student described working five days a week until 10 or 10:30 p.m., going unpaid for two months and receiving only one workplace visit from a teacher in two years.
