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Ex-Governor Sonel's wife testifies in Gülistan Doku case
Handan Sonel, the wife of arrested former governor Tuncay Sonel, claimed in her testimony to the prosecutor and gendarmerie that her son had no psychological issues and his fascination with guns was limited to airsoft. She also said she did not know Gülistan Doku and rejected the accusations against her.
An arrest warrant had been issued for Handan Sonel, the wife of the then-governor of Tunceli, Tuncay Sonel, on charges of destroying, concealing or tampering with evidence in the investigation into Gülistan Doku’s disappearance on January 5, 2020. In her testimony to the prosecutor and gendarmerie, Handan Sonel made a series of claims defending her son Mustafa Türkay Sonel.
Handan Sonel claimed that her son had no psychological problems and did not have fights with anyone. Stating that her son’s only hobby was animals, Sonel said:
"There were 27-28 special operations police officers on the lower floor of the governor's residence. Because of the difficult times, 14-15 of them served as my husband's bodyguards. Türkay would interact a lot with these police officers. Because of their weapons, he developed an interest in airsoft guns. He didn't even know about his father's guns at home and never touched them."
Sonel said that the car they bought for their son from Ankara was purchased with their own money, and explained that only her son used the vehicle while her husband always traveled in an armored car.
Handan Sonel stated that her son spent time with his friends Uğurcan and Umut in Tunceli, but she did not approve of this friendship because they were from Tunceli, citing fear of terrorism. She claimed her son had no licensed or unlicensed firearm, and that he used the pellet-shooting guns referred to as airsoft for sport.
Sonel claimed she did not know Gülistan Doku and first heard her name in the media after her disappearance, saying: "She had appeared in PKK actions; there's no way I could know someone like that. I have no information about what happened to her." She added that her husband was only aware of the search efforts for the missing girl from what he heard in newspapers.
Regarding the armed photos found on her son's phone, Sonel said: "I don't know about those photos; if they exist, the guns belong to the police officers on duty." She also said she had no idea about the allegation that Gülistan Doku's SIM card was processed in Ankara.
Rejecting the allegations in the statement of arrested witness T.G. that she gave him 100,000 lira to dispose of the body and that her son killed Gülistan Doku, Sonel said: "I have never even heard the name T.G. I absolutely do not accept these claims."
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