Turkey questions an opposition MP's wife for espionage, asking about 205 payments and LGBT projects

Prosecutors in İstanbul questioned Yonca Verdioğlu Şık on Tuesday in an investigation into "political or military espionage," an offense that carries 15 to 20 years in prison under Turkish law. She is the wife of Ahmet Şık, a Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) deputy who has spent weeks publishing documents and questions about the investment-fund scandal and about Justice Minister Akın Gürlek. Police took her from her home to the courthouse. After about an hour of questioning in the late afternoon, she was released under a ban on leaving the country.

The questions put to her, as reported by journalists who obtained her statement, centered on her job. She has worked since 2008 for the Turkey office of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, a German political foundation close to Germany's Green Party. Prosecutors asked about 205 payments the foundation made to her bank account and about projects funded by the German Foreign Office. They also asked about its work with Kaos GL, an LGBT rights group whose managers were jailed in September. She said the payments were her salary and reimbursed expenses and that the work was human rights work.

TİP says the investigation is retaliation against her husband, who has parliamentary immunity. Pro-government outlets say the file was opened on June 30, before his most pointed criticism of the minister, and that the timing points the other way. No indictment has been filed, prosecutors have not published the evidence behind the espionage allegation, and she has not been charged with a crime.

Quotations from Turkish- and German-language sources in this article are 567politics translations.

What happened on Tuesday#

Police arrived at the family's home in İstanbul's Beyoğlu district on November 10 and told Verdioğlu Şık she was the subject of an investigation by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, Hürriyet Daily News reported. After a routine medical check, they took her to the Çağlayan courthouse. The offense was given as "political or military espionage," and the authorities did not disclose the specific grounds.

That offense is defined in Article 328 of the Turkish Penal Code. It covers obtaining information that by its nature must remain secret for the state's security or political interests, "for the purpose of political or military espionage." The basic penalty is 15 to 20 years. It rises to aggravated life imprisonment if the act benefits a state at war with Turkey or endangers its war effort.

Her questioning began at about 4:45 p.m. and lasted roughly an hour, according to an account of her statement by journalist Rojda Altıntaş carried by Haberler.com. She was then released under a judicial-control measure in the form of a ban on leaving the country. DW Türkçe and the İhlas News Agency reported the same outcome.

Her lawyer told Der Spiegel that her client had described her work transparently, and called the investigation "concerning and worrying." The lawyer said they had learned that day that an exit ban was already in place. T24 reported that the ban had been imposed after the file was opened on June 30.

Detention, or a summons in custody?#

The two sides do not even agree on what to call Tuesday's events. TİP, its leaders and most Turkish and foreign outlets described it as a detention. Officials quoted without names by the pro-government site Haber 7 said there was no detention order and no search of her home. In their account, she was brought before prosecutors in custody only to give a statement. Haber 7 headlined the "detention" claim as a lie.

Her own statement, as reported, partly supports the officials' account. She said her home was not searched, her phone was not seized and she had not been taken into custody. In practice, police came to her home without notice and escorted her to the courthouse, where she spent several hours. The legal label matters little to the outcome: she is free, but she cannot leave Turkey while the investigation lasts.

What prosecutors asked#

The fullest account of the questioning comes from the statement as reported by Altıntaş and published by Haberler.com, and from a lengthier version on Haber 7. Neither outlet published the document itself. The questions fell into four groups.

The payments. Prosecutors asked about the source and purpose of 205 separate payments the foundation made to her account. She said most were salary and the rest were reimbursements for documented expenses she paid on the foundation's behalf. "This money was not used for any other purpose in any way," she said.

The funding and projects. She said the foundation carries out work funded by the German Foreign Office. In 2026, she said, it ran activities on the Kurdish question, funded from "a budget made up directly of citizens' taxes" in Germany. In 2025 it ran awareness training on violence against women for taxi drivers, and it supported a digital museum project on memory of the September 12, 1980, military coup.

Kaos GL. Prosecutors asked about joint projects with LGBT associations, including Kaos GL. She said the two organizations were project partners on reporting discrimination against LGBT people and on conferences, and that the foundation had helped such groups build capacity and provided meeting space. Prosecutors asked whether the activities amounted to "cinsiyetsizleştirme," a term used in government discourse that translates roughly as "de-gendering." She rejected the description: "The association is not one that commits crimes, and I do not describe its work as de-gendering. I believe it carries out activities in the context of human rights."

A 2016 remark. Prosecutors asked about a statement attributed to Kristian Brakel, described as the foundation's İstanbul representative at the time, after the failed coup of July 15, 2016, to the effect that the country was "divided." She said she had no knowledge of it. Haber 7 itself noted that the statement's full text and context were not in the record.

Nothing in the reported questions describes classified information she is alleged to have obtained, which is what Article 328 requires. Prosecutors may hold evidence that has not been disclosed. Turkish investigations are often confidential at this stage, and the absence of public evidence does not show that none exists.

The foundation and the September raids#

The Heinrich Böll Stiftung describes its work as protecting the environment and climate, promoting democracy and human rights and encouraging the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Its İstanbul office has operated since 1994 and works on climate change, human rights and refugee rights, DW Türkçe reported. Verdioğlu Şık has been with the office since 2008, according to BBC Türkçe. The office took part in the UN climate conference that Turkey is hosting in Antalya, T24 reported. 567politics has covered the opening of COP31.

Her questioning over Kaos GL follows a broader case against LGBT associations. On September 13, Gürlek announced what he called the "Ailem Güvende" ("My Family Is Safe") operations, covering 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses across 15 provinces, in a statement published by the Justice Ministry. He referred to what he called associations "promoting LGBT and immorality." "MASAK examinations found that high amounts of funds were transferred to some associations from public institutions and foreign organizations abroad," he said, referring to Turkey's Financial Crimes Investigation Board. "The source of these money movements and their link to the activities under investigation are being investigated."

At least 80 people were jailed in those investigations, BBC Türkçe reported. In Ankara, seven Kaos GL managers and the journalist Tuğba Tekerek were jailed on September 15. The charges listed included violating the Associations Law, facilitating the publication of obscene material and obscenity in places children can see. Pro-government channels named an association that the Böll foundation had supported until 2023, according to Der Spiegel, which reported that the foundation rejects the accusation that it financed associations unlawfully.

No public statement from the foundation on Tuesday's events was found when this story was written. Al-Monitor said it had asked the foundation for comment.

1. 2026-06-30İstanbul prosecutors open an espionage file on Verdioğlu Şık, according to T24 and Haber 7
2. 2026-09-13Gürlek announces the "Ailem Güvende" operations against nine associations
3. 2026-09-15Seven Kaos GL managers and a journalist are jailed in Ankara
4. 2026-09-29Pro-government commentators publicly link her job to her husband's criticism of Gürlek
5. 2026-11-09TİP tells Gürlek at a budget hearing that Ahmet Şık's family is being threatened
6. 2026-11-10Police take her to the courthouse; she is released under an exit ban

Source: Justice Ministry, BBC Türkçe, T24, DW Türkçe

TİP: "First the threat, then the instruction"#

TİP linked the case directly to the budget committee hearing on Monday, where Gürlek presented his ministry's 2027 budget. As 567politics reported, that hearing turned into a clash over the fund investigation and immunity. At one point the minister told a YENİ Parti deputy that his home "would have been searched" if he were not a member of parliament.

TİP's chairman, Erkan Baş, said he had told Gürlek at that hearing that Şık's family and friends were being threatened. In a statement headed "First the threat, then the instruction came," quoted by T24, the party said: "It appears that Minister Gürlek has instructed the judicial and security forces under his command to act." It called her case a "fabricated allegation without any connection or grounds" and announced a "justice vigil" outside the courthouse.

At a press conference in parliament, Baş said the only reason for her detention "is that she is Ahmet Şık's wife," according to T24. He said a friend of Şık's, Ahmet Saymadi, an executive of the Socialist Refoundation Party, had been jailed after an anonymous e-mail tip about drugs at the shop he runs. Baş said a police search found none. Baş alleged that while Saymadi was being questioned, intermediaries offered Şık a deal: delete his posts and his friend would be freed. 567politics could not verify that claim, and the government has not responded to it. Baş also said Şık had undergone heart bypass surgery ten days earlier and was working from home.

At Monday's hearing, Gürlek had brought up Saymadi himself, saying he was held "for providing a place and means for drugs," T24 reported. TİP deputy Sera Kadıgil replied that no drugs had been found. On Tuesday she wrote: "Will you silence MPs by arresting the wives and friends of those you cannot arrest?" She also referred to Can Atalay, a TİP member elected in 2023 whom the party says is still being held.

Ahmet Şık responded on X after his wife's release. "When you remove law from the state, what remains is not called a state but a gang," he wrote, adding that such an order "always finds a pretext for its own evil."

View this post on X

The government side: a file that predates the criticism#

No statement from Gürlek or the ministry on Verdioğlu Şık was found. The case for the investigation has so far been made by pro-government media and by officials who spoke without being named.

Haber 7 reported that the investigation had been running since June 30 under Article 328 and that prosecutors had identified transfers from the foundation to her personal account. It reported claims that Şık had learned of the file and then begun attacking Gürlek and those close to him as a way of obscuring the prosecutors' findings. The site asked whether Şık was "hiding behind parliamentary immunity" for "a personal settling of scores." It offered no evidence that Şık knew of the investigation.

A second Haber 7 article said the statement raised questions about "the limits of financing projects on Turkey's internal affairs from foreign sources." It pointed to her description of German-funded work on the Kurdish question and with LGBT groups. It also acknowledged that her statement "did not reveal a specific project proven to have been carried out for the purpose of de-gendering."

T24 traced the public case against her to two posts on September 29. Hacı Yakışıklı, a commentator for the TV100 channel, wrote that she had worked at the foundation since 2008 and that some reports and commentaries claimed it was linked to Germany's BND intelligence service. He cited no evidence for that claim. The journalist Emre Erciş described a chain that began with a June proposal by a member of the European Parliament to sanction Gürlek. In his account, it ran through the European Greens, the foundation and Verdioğlu Şık to Ahmet Şık's questions about the minister. He called it "certainly not a coincidence." Both posts argued from association and timing. Neither cited documentary evidence, and neither commentator claimed to have seen the prosecution file.

Questions of timing and evidence#

Both sides make arguments from timing, and neither proves its case.

TİP points out that police came to the house the day after Baş confronted the minister. The file, however, was opened in June, so the investigation itself cannot have been a response to Monday's exchange. The decision about when to bring her in is a separate question that TİP's argument addresses and the June date does not answer.

The pro-government argument runs the other way: Şık's attacks on Gürlek came after the file was opened, so they may have been a pre-emptive defense. That inference requires showing that Şık knew of a confidential investigation, and no evidence for that has been published. It also leaves out that his questions were part of a wider opposition campaign on the fund scandal. That scandal has reached Turkey's financial bureaucracy and led to the jailing of a former AKP minister.

The case also turns on a definitional question that only prosecutors can answer. Receiving a salary from a foreign foundation, working on the Kurdish question or partnering with an LGBT group is not espionage under Article 328 unless it involves obtaining secret state information for espionage purposes. If prosecutors believe her work went beyond that, they have not said how.

Why it matters#

TİP has three of the 592 members currently sitting in the 600-seat parliament, according to the Grand National Assembly's seat count. Even so, Ahmet Şık has been one of the most persistent opposition voices on the fund scandal. His immunity prevents prosecutors from pursuing him without a vote of parliament. The dispute over whether lawmakers' relatives can be investigated sits beside a broader fight over immunity itself, including Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's call to lift it in the fund case.

The case also extends a pattern of investigations touching opposition figures and outlets, including the second wave of the Halk TV probe on the same day. It also brings a German political foundation that, by her account, receives German Foreign Office funding into a Turkish espionage file. No comment from the German government was found when this story was written.

What to watch#

Prosecutors can call her again, seek a court order for further measures or close the file. She can challenge the exit ban before a criminal judgeship of peace. Any indictment would have to set out what secret information she is alleged to have obtained and for whom. The foundation's response, and whether Berlin raises the case with Ankara, will indicate how far the dispute reaches beyond Turkish domestic politics.

How we reported this#

567politics read reports by Hürriyet Daily News, DW Türkçe, BBC Türkçe, T24, Euronews Türkçe, the İhlas and Demirören news agencies, Haberler.com, Haber 7, Al-Monitor and Der Spiegel. We also read the Justice Ministry's September statement and the text of Article 328 of the Penal Code. Her statement to prosecutors is known only from journalists' accounts; the document itself has not been published. We left out details of the family's private life that circulated on social media. See our methodology for how we source and check stories.

Differing perspectives

Is the espionage investigation of Yonca Verdioğlu Şık a legitimate inquiry or pressure on her MP husband?

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.

• Drop the case as retaliation

  Who holds it: Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) leaders Erkan Baş and Sera Kadıgil, and Ahmet Şık

  TİP argues that Yonca Verdioğlu Şık was targeted only because she is married to Ahmet Şık, whose parliamentary immunity shields him while he publishes documents on the investment-fund scandal and questions about the justice minister. The party points out that police came to her home the day after its chairman told the minister at a budget hearing that Şık's family was being threatened, and that a friend of Şık's was jailed weeks earlier. It says the case is meant to silence an elected deputy and should be dropped.

  In their words: T24 (Erkan Baş press conference) ↗

• Let the investigation run its course

  Who holds it: Pro-government outlets such as Haber 7 and officials quoted without names

  Supporters of the investigation say it is an ordinary judicial process. The file was opened on June 30 under Article 328 of the Penal Code, months before Şık's sharpest attacks on the minister, and prosecutors found transfers from the foundation to her personal account that they are entitled to examine. They say she was brought in only to give a statement, not detained or searched, and that a deputy's immunity should not shield his relatives' activities from scrutiny.

  In their words: Haber 7 ↗

• Scrutinize foreign funding of associations

  Who holds it: Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, in announcing the September "Ailem Güvende" operations

  Announcing operations against nine associations in September, Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said financial investigators had found high-value transfers to some associations from foreign public institutions and organizations, and that the source of the money and its link to the activities under investigation were being examined. He argues that the constitution obliges the state to protect children and the family and that no structure targeting them will be tolerated. He has not commented publicly on this case.

  In their words: Turkish Ministry of Justice ↗

• Treat her work as lawful human rights work

  Who holds it: Yonca Verdioğlu Şık and her lawyer

  Verdioğlu Şık says the 205 payments were her salary and reimbursements for documented expenses, and that the foundation's projects on the Kurdish question, violence against women, memory of the 1980 coup and discrimination against LGBT people are human rights work carried out openly with German Foreign Office funds. She rejects the label "de-gendering" and says the association commits no crimes. Her lawyer says she described her work transparently and calls the investigation concerning and worrying.

  In their words: Haberler.com (account of her statement to prosecutors) ↗

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