DEM Party Kocaeli MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu brought to the agenda of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey the allegations made by Fatoş Pınar Türker, General Manager of Medya A. Ş., who is on trial in the case against Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), regarding strip searches, mistreatment, psychological pressure, threats involving her children, and prison conditions during the hearing.
Gergerlioğlu submitted two separate parliamentary questions to Justice Minister Akın Gürlek and Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi, requesting answers and investigation into these allegations.
Highlighting that the incidents described by Fatoş Pınar Türker during the 47th hearing of the İBB case contain serious human rights violation claims, Gergerlioğlu emphasized the need to clarify the practices reportedly experienced during detention, interrogation, and imprisonment in line with the principles of the rule of law.
In his question to Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, Gergerlioğlu asked whether Türker’s statements about her detention process, prosecution interrogation, transfer to prison, and detention conditions have been effectively investigated.
The question reminded the minister of Türker’s claim that she was subjected to a strip search at the Istanbul Vatan Street Police Department and stated that these allegations should be evaluated within the scope of the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment.
It was also noted that Türker alleged she was forced to speak with the prosecutor who previously interrogated her via SEGBİS (video conferencing system) in prison and that she was threatened through her children when she requested to meet with her lawyer.
Gergerlioğlu stressed that the right to meet with a lawyer is constitutionally guaranteed and that preventing this right or exerting pressure through a person’s children constitutes serious violations of the right to defense, fair trial, respect for family life, and the prohibition of ill-treatment.
The question also raised numerous inquiries about whether any administrative or judicial investigation has been initiated against the prosecutor in question, the legal basis and records of the SEGBİS meeting, search procedures for female detainees, and the capacity and living conditions in prisons.
In his question to Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi, Gergerlioğlu brought up Türker’s allegations of strip searches and humiliating treatment while in custody at the Vatan Police Department. The question emphasized that detainees are under state protection and that law enforcement’s primary responsibility is to safeguard their security and rights.
Gergerlioğlu requested a full investigation of all aspects of the allegations, identification of the officials involved, and examination of camera footage, duty rosters, search records, and detention logs.
He also called for measures such as camera monitoring, mandatory documentation, independent oversight mechanisms, and gender sensitivity training for law enforcement to prevent arbitrary and abusive search procedures in detention centers.
In both questions, Gergerlioğlu stressed that the allegations of strip searches, threats, psychological pressure, and mistreatment made in court should not remain mere statements and urged the relevant institutions to conduct independent, effective, and transparent investigations.
He underlined the importance of clarifying allegations that damage human dignity and implementing necessary administrative, legal, and disciplinary mechanisms to prevent similar incidents in the future.
- Has your ministry initiated an ex officio investigation into the strip search, mistreatment, psychological pressure, and threat allegations raised by Fatoş Pınar Türker during the İBB trial? - Has any notification been made to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors regarding Türker’s statement, "The prosecutor threatened to take my children away from me"?
- Has any administrative or judicial investigation been launched against the prosecutor who interrogated Fatoş Pınar Türker? If not, what is the reason? - Does your ministry consider the prosecutor’s alleged pressure on Türker through her children due to her desire to meet with her lawyer as a violation of the right to defense? - Is it true that Türker was made to meet with the prosecutor via SEGBİS?
If so, what is the legal basis for this meeting? - Is it lawful for a detainee to be made to meet with a prosecutor via SEGBİS without a lawyer present or without informing their defense counsel? - Are there records of this SEGBİS meeting? If so, have these records been preserved? Has a report been prepared regarding this meeting?
If a report was prepared, does it include the threatening statements Türker mentioned? - Has any action been taken by the bar association, prosecution, or the Council of Judges and Prosecutors regarding the allegation that Türker was pressured by the prosecutor despite her request to meet with her lawyer?
- Does your ministry consider the threat that a detainee’s children will be taken by Social Services as psychological torture or ill-treatment? - Have the strip search allegations Türker described during the hearing been examined in connection with any procedures under your ministry’s responsibility related to prison admission?
- What are your ministry’s written directives regarding strip searches for female detainees and convicts entering penal institutions? - How many complaints have been made to your ministry in the last five years regarding strip searches, mistreatment, verbal harassment, or humiliating searches upon prison entry? - How many administrative investigations have been initiated against prison staff due to strip search allegations in the last five years?
How many of these investigations resulted in disciplinary sanctions? - Is Türker’s statement that she stayed in a 40-square-meter ward with 25 people, while the ward’s capacity is 16, accurate? If so, in which penal institution did this occur?
- Has your ministry inspected claims that female detainees are held in overcrowded wards, with deteriorating hygiene and health conditions, and overflowing toilets? - Has any investigation been conducted into allegations of mistreatment, overcrowding, hygiene problems, restricted access to healthcare, or psychological pressure in the prisons where women detained in the İBB case are held?
- Have the allegations of torture, mistreatment, and threats raised in the courtroom been accepted as criminal complaints by the court or prosecution? - Will your ministry ensure an independent, effective, and transparent investigation to prevent the allegations of strip searches, threats, and psychological pressure raised in court from remaining at the "allegation" stage?
- What concrete administrative, legal, and disciplinary measures will your ministry take to prevent the recurrence of strip searches targeting human dignity, pressure to give statements without a lawyer, threats through children, and mistreatment of detained women? Questions directed to the Ministry of Interior.
