Turkey's justice minister reports 464 suspects in fund probe as budget hearing erupts over names and immunity

Turkey's justice minister, Akın Gürlek, told parliament's budget committee on Monday that the investigation into manipulated investment funds now has 464 suspects, 120 of them jailed pending trial. The hearing on his ministry's 2027 budget, his first as minister, turned into a confrontation with the opposition YENİ Parti. Gürlek told one of its lawmakers that his home "would have been searched" if he were not a member of parliament. Opposition members accused the minister of threatening an elected deputy, and the lawmaker said the testimony Gürlek cited had been contradicted in prosecutors' own records.

The exchanges showed how the fund case, which the government presents as a fight against organized market fraud, has become a fight over who in politics is implicated. A YENİ Parti leader said "60 lawmakers" and "30 ministers" were being talked about, without naming anyone. Members of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the committee chair said anyone giving numbers should give names. The opposition replied that the government holds the lists.

This account is based on the unreviewed transcript of the session published by parliament, along with reports by BBC Türkçe and the state-run Anadolu Agency. Quotations are translated from Turkish.

The minister's update on the fund investigation#

The investigation, run by the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office, concerns allegations of "manipulation, market fraud and laundering of proceeds of crime" involving investment funds and thinly traded shares. In his opening statement, Gürlek gave figures as of November 9. The table and chart compare them with figures he gave in a ministry statement on November 3.

• Nov. 3
• Nov. 9

0

100

200

300

Jailed pending trialNov. 3: 112Nov. 9: 120

Judicial controlNov. 3: 186Nov. 9: 262

Fugitive, warrant issuedNov. 3: 38Nov. 9: 40

Jailed pending trialJudicial controlFugitive, warrant issued

Source: Turkish Ministry of Justice, Nov. 3, TBMM Plan and Budget Committee transcript, Nov. 9

Show the numbers

Status	Nov. 3	Nov. 9
Jailed pending trial	112	120
Judicial control	186	262
Fugitive, warrant issued	38	40

The largest change in six days was in judicial control, measures such as travel bans or regular reporting to police, which rose by 76 people. A jailing order in Turkey is a pretrial measure, not a conviction.

Gürlek also said money, property and shares had been returned through a voluntary repayment account set up within the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). His prepared statement put the amount at about 31.5 billion lira, while in his later answers he said 32.5 billion lira had been paid. The transcript does not explain the difference.

"No one's office, title, economic power or relationships can place them above the law," Gürlek said, according to BBC Türkçe. In his answers, reported by Anadolu Agency via Hürriyet, he said people working in "supervisory mechanisms" had been found to be part of the structure and that being a public official did not shield anyone from prosecution. "As our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, whoever acted against our nation, what is necessary will be done," he said. "We will not go from city to city defending the one who robs the nation. We will take him and hand him over to the judiciary."

Background on the case, including the jailing of the former head of Borsa İstanbul, is in our November 3 report and our earlier report on the arrest request.

"60 lawmakers, 30 ministers": the dispute over names#

The sharpest argument began when Gökhan Günaydın, YENİ Parti's deputy parliamentary group chair, raised the case of Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, a former AKP minister whose name has come up in the investigation. He said the scandal broke on September 17 and asked why she had been in New York on September 25. "If we had not found her and put her before you, would you have detained her, reluctantly, two months later? Who else is there like Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya? Look, 60 lawmakers are being talked about, 30 ministers are being talked about," he said, according to the transcript.

AKP lawmaker Yaşar Kırkpınar answered: "Gökhan Bey, is anyone holding your hand? Whatever document you have..." The committee chair, Mehmet Muş of the AKP, told Günaydın that "if you give a number, you have to give the names." Saliha Sera Kadıgil of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) called across to government benches: "Announce it so we know." Günaydın said he did not hold the list from the Central Registry Agency (MKK), which records share ownership, and that the ministry should publish it. "The minister is here. Why can't he announce this list, why can't he start an investigation on the basis of this list?" he asked, according to BBC Türkçe.

Gürlek replied that the Capital Markets Board (SPK) had filed a criminal complaint about Sayan Kaya on October 26 and that prosecutors had summoned her to give a statement. "There is no special protecting or shielding. Public officials are being arrested here too. We are not protecting anyone," he said. 567politics found no public statement from Sayan Kaya in response to Monday's remarks.

The exchange with Turan Taşkın Özer#

Earlier, YENİ Parti lawmakers left the room as Gürlek arrived and shook hands with members, BBC Türkçe reported. They returned after he took his seat. Later, Turan Taşkın Özer, a YENİ Parti deputy from Istanbul, raised allegations about the minister's assets and property made by the party's leader, Özgür Özel.

In response, Gürlek cited testimony from Adem Soytekin, a defendant held in the investigation into the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB). According to the transcript, Gürlek quoted Soytekin as describing a meeting at Ekrem İmamoğlu's official residence in Florya on March 6, 2025, before the İBB operations. Soytekin said money was then taken "that evening to Turan Taşkın Özer's house," Gürlek said. Gürlek then said: "Right now, if you were not a member of parliament, your home would have been searched, Turan Taşkın Özer, and you know this too." He said a summary of proceedings, or fezleke, seeking to lift Özer's immunity was before parliament, and he challenged him: "Come, let us lift yours, and let us lift mine too. Are you in?"

Opposition lawmakers objected. "Look at the threat," said Ümit Özlale. "He is threatening a member of parliament," said Kadıgil. Sibel Suiçmez reminded the minister of the presumption of innocence and the right not to be stigmatized. Gürlek said the claims came from people who had applied for "effective repentance," a provision that can reduce sentences for suspects who cooperate.

Özer said he had been threatened and that the minister was relying on wrong information. "It is established by prosecution records that Adem Soytekin, whose statements Gürlek used, contradicted his own statements and denied them," he said, according to BBC Türkçe. "So the minister has accused me on the basis of false information. I ask him to make a correction." No court has ruled on the allegations against Özer, and parliament has not voted on lifting his immunity. The wider immunity dispute between the opposition parties is covered in our report on the Kılıçdaroğlu and Özel files.

The İBB case itself, in which İmamoğlu, the jailed Istanbul mayor, is the main defendant, is covered in our report on his European Court of Human Rights application.

In a separate exchange reported by the İHA news agency, Gürlek said that Muhittin Böcek, the CHP-elected mayor of Antalya, had given statements under the effective-repentance provision four times and had described "to whom they gave the money at party headquarters," and that a fezleke had been sent to parliament. The remarks led to an argument between AKP deputy Hasan Ufuk Çakır and YENİ Parti deputy Ahmet Vehbi Bakırlıoğlu.

Criticism of the minister's record#

Several opposition speakers focused on Gürlek's career before he joined the cabinet. Sevda Karaca Demir, a lawmaker from Gaziantep, said his past rulings as a judge in cases against figures including former pro-Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtaş and former Istanbul CHP chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu had shaped his reputation, and that he was known as a judge who had refused to comply with a Constitutional Court ruling. Günaydın asked how impartiality could be expected "while the justice minister tours AKP organizations."

Gürlek rejected the criticism. "I return to their owners all words that attack my personal rights and target me with baseless slander," he said, according to the transcript. He said he had faced threats from many terrorist and criminal organizations, which had targeted even his family, and that "no center of evil can frighten me."

The budget and the peace process#

The ministry's proposed 2027 allocation is 524.7 billion lira, according to Gürlek's statement. Barış Bektaş, speaking for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said this was 34.7% more than the previous year, but argued that "justice is measured not with numbers in budget tables, but with the citizen's conscience." Turkey's annual consumer inflation was 29.77% in October, according to the official statistics agency.

Gürlek also spoke about the government's "Terror-free Turkey" process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). "Our road map is clear. Terrorist elements laying down arms inside and outside the country, the removal of conditions that threaten our country's peace and security, and this being confirmed by the relevant state institutions, is essential. We have not bargained with anyone, and we will not," he said, according to Anadolu. Sırrı Sakik of the pro-Kurdish DEM Party said Turkey "is obliged to make peace" and urged the release of jailed Kurdish politicians and seriously ill prisoners. The process is covered in our report on its latest stage.

What remains unresolved#

The committee did not settle any of Monday's disputes. It remains unknown whether prosecutors will publish or act on the MKK ownership records the opposition says implicate politicians, whether parliament will take up the immunity files against Özer or other lawmakers, and how the gap between the minister's two repayment figures will be explained. The committee's budget debates continue this week, and the budget then goes to the full assembly. Party positions in Turkey are compared on our Turkey political spectrum.

Differing perspectives

Is Turkey's fund investigation reaching politicians impartially, and should the names behind the trades be made public?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Publish the share-ownership lists

  Who holds it: YENİ Parti, including deputy group chair Gökhan Günaydın, and other opposition lawmakers

  YENİ Parti says the government holds the central registry records showing who traded and profited, and that a former AKP minister was pursued only after the opposition exposed her. It argues many more politicians are rumored to be involved and that the minister, who has the lists, should publish them and open investigations on that basis. It says promises that the case will go wherever it leads mean little while the names stay hidden.

  In their words: ANKA via Sondakika.com ↗

• The minister should not accuse a lawmaker

  Who holds it: YENİ Parti deputy Turan Taşkın Özer and opposition lawmakers present

  Özer and other opposition members say a justice minister telling a deputy his home would have been searched is a threat to an elected lawmaker. They say the testimony the minister cited was contradicted and denied in prosecution records, and that he accused Özer on false information. They cite the presumption of innocence and the right not to be stigmatized, and ask the minister to correct his remarks.

  In their words: BBC News Türkçe ↗

• The probe is thorough and spares no one

  Who holds it: Justice Minister Akın Gürlek and the government

  The minister says prosecutors are tracing how share prices were steered and where the gains went, regardless of the name on the file. He says people in supervisory bodies have been found inside the scheme, public officials are being jailed, and every person who made excessive gains faces legal action. He argues that those who robbed the nation will be handed to the courts rather than defended, and he rejects the personal accusations made against him.

  In their words: Anadolu Agency via Hürriyet ↗

• Those who cite numbers should name names

  Who holds it: AKP members of the Plan and Budget Committee, including chair Mehmet Muş and Yaşar Kırkpınar

  Governing party members say lawmakers who claim dozens of deputies and ministers are implicated should present their documents and say who they are. They argue that floating numbers without names smears every member of parliament, and that the committee is the place to back up claims with evidence. They say nothing prevents the opposition from naming people if it has proof.

  In their words: Grand National Assembly of Turkey (committee transcript) ↗

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