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Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel Released Under Judicial Control
He was released under judicial control in the case. The file also recalled years of abuse allegations, the investigation process, and the prison sentences given.
Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, founder of the Hiranur Foundation affiliated with the İsmailağa Community, who married off his 6-year-old daughter to Kadir İstekli, has been released under judicial control. What did H. K. G., who suffered sexual abuse for years, experience and how did she start her legal battle? Details are in our report. The indictment was first revealed to the public by journalist Timur Soykan from Birgün on December 3, 2022.
H. K. G., daughter of Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, founder of the Hiranur Foundation affiliated with the İsmailağa Community, filed a complaint stating that her father married her off with an imam marriage at the age of 6 and that she was sexually abused every day throughout her childhood. At age 6, she was married with an imam marriage to a 29-year-old follower. In her statement, she described how the sexual abuse was presented to her as a game.
According to the indictment, at age 6, H. K. G. was dressed in a white outfit resembling a wedding dress. Then she was shown Kadir İstekli and told, "He is now your husband." İstekli took the 6-year-old child to a photo studio. Years later, in her testimony, H. K. G.
described what happened the day after the imam marriage: "Kadir caressed my body, rubbed against my feet, and then ejaculated on my feet. I cried. Kadir said we were married. My mother and father explained that just as they were married, we were too. 'You are my wife, I am your husband,' he said. 'Married people play these games but no one should tell anyone about this game. Look, your mother and father don’t tell anyone,' he said.
My mother and father called Kadir 'my son-in-law.'" According to the indictment, a year later, H. K. G. went to their hometown Sakarya-Sapanca with her parents. Kadir İstekli also went with the family. On the second floor of their house in Sapanca, Kadir İstekli raped H. K. G. The abuse continued when they returned to their home in Istanbul-Çengelköy. According to the indictment, the mother initially objected.
However, her father Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel handed H. K. G. over to Kadir İstekli in the neighboring apartment on days when her mother was not home. Her mother would comb H. K. G.’s hair and send her to Kadir. According to Timur Soykan’s report, in 2011, her father began building a large complex in Sancaktepe and they moved there. The young girl was engaged at 13 and married at 14. After the wedding, Kadir and H. K. G.
started living in the same house. Four months after the wedding, on August 17, 2012, her mother Fatma Gümüşel took her to the hospital due to irregular menstruation. The doctor immediately recognized the abuse and reported it to the police. The prosecutor launched an investigation, but the case was covered up. According to the indictment, H. K. G. once heard discussions on a radio program about marrying young girls.
She decided to run away from home but her father prevented her. In her statement, H. K. G. said: "After this incident, I withdrew again. I tried to obey and did not go against my family. I became pregnant at 17. After giving birth, I found peace. But they took my child from me. When I researched on my phone, I realized that marrying at 6 is not normal." When H. K. G. turned 18, a legal marriage was performed.
At a women’s doctor she visited in Pendik, Istanbul, she was told, "This man raped you, he raped you every day since you were 6." Meanwhile, H. K. G. secretly started using social media and met a woman to whom she told about the childhood she never had. This woman advised her to file a complaint and said, "Record your conversations with Kadir on your phone." H. K. G.: "There was a doctor I went to in Pendik who spoke openly with me.
Maybe she was right. 'This man raped you at 6, raped you every day from 6 to 14...'" Kadir İstekli: "What does rape have to do with it... Where are you taking this? What your wife says is nonsense." Kadir İstekli: "You don’t have to go to every doctor. Your mother said the same. She said doctors who are not on this path won’t welcome it, won’t approve it." H. K. G.
: "There was a doctor she initially directed me to. I told her this and that." Kadir İstekli: "Oh my... you’re speaking through their mouth. What rape? What does it have to do with it?" H. K. G: "I wish we hadn’t had relations at 6, we would definitely have been happy, right?" Kadir İstekli: "Well, it’s not exactly like that..." H. K. G.: "Our marriage shouldn’t have been at 6.
I wish my father hadn’t allowed the relations... None of these problems would have happened." Kadir İstekli: "Is there anything to be done? Can we turn back?" H. K. G.: "But there is no compensation." Kadir İstekli: "It’s really a mistake. Thoughtless, psychological. An act done unknowingly. Wrong thing... If I had a daughter now, would I marry her at 6? I would marry her.
But would I allow something like that? No, I wouldn’t." Kadir İstekli: "Does the teacher think everything is perfect? Leave it, you too, Allah Allah." H. K. G: "My daughter is still small, 6 years old. Can she handle the relationship or not, wouldn’t a person know that... Once, twice, then you watch over her. How can I say, you watch your daughter’s condition... It continued like this for years. Not once, not twice. Every day was a problem.
It’s really a big problem, sir." Kadir İstekli: "There’s no turning back, no turning back." H. K. G: "Because I was so little. I can’t understand how to say it. It’s really hard, hard for me. You should think about me too. My father should think about me a little."
Kadir İstekli: "Until yesterday, until you spoke, we didn’t know there was such a problem, Allah Allah..." Kadir İstekli: "You don’t know, I mean. Why should I have studied psychology? I haven’t..." H. K. G.: "But you don’t need psychology to know this... You’re so little. Let’s say I’m 6. Our marriage is performed. Then my father says, ‘This is my son-in-law.’ It’s very normal, everyone continues their life. How can I say it? The subject is always at home. I’m treated like an adult girl." Kadir İstekli: "I didn’t see you like that. That’s how I went. The little one passed like you said. What do I know..." H. K. G.: "My mother combed my hair and sent me to you." H. K. G.
With these voice recordings, on November 30, 2020, she went to the Istanbul Anatolian Prosecutor’s Office with bruises on her body and filed a complaint. Along with the recorded conversation, she also submitted photos to the prosecutor’s office. Kadir İstekli, Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, and Fatma Gümüşel claimed in their statements that H. K. G. was engaged at 16 and married at 17. They denied that she was married at 6 or raped.
Regarding the recorded conversation, Kadir İstekli said, "She often said we married at 6 and that she was raped. I approved it to avoid escalating the fight." He claimed the bruises on H. K. G.’s body at the time of the complaint were from a fall. According to Soykan’s report, the prosecutor then requested H. K. G.’s birth record from the Sapanca Population Directorate.
She was born in 1998, at the Fatih Private Hospital in Istanbul. Thus, H. K. G.’s statements were confirmed. During the investigation that began with the doctor’s report in 2012, she was only 14 and had been married. During that investigation, her mother claimed H. K. G. was 17, and a bone test was falsified by another person, producing a report stating she was 21.
The prosecutor filed a criminal complaint about this forgery. H. K. G. also filed a complaint against her family, left home, and divorced Kadir İstekli. Despite all the evidence, no case was opened for two years regarding her complaint. No one was arrested during the investigation. On October 30, 2022, the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office completed the indictment. The prosecutor stated in the indictment that H. K. G.’s parents ignored the rape.
The indictment stated that Kadir İstekli, cult leader father Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel, and mother Fatma Gümüşel committed the crime of repeated child sexual abuse. It requested that all three defendants be sentenced to at least 27 years in prison. Additionally, the prosecutor sought a sentence for Kadir İstekli for sexual assault. The first hearing in H. K. G.’s case was held on October 23, 2023.
The court sentenced Kadir İstekli to 21 years for "sexual abuse of a child" and 15 years for "repeated sexual assault," totaling 36 years in prison. The court sentenced Hiranur Foundation founder Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel to 18 years and 9 months for "participation in sexual abuse" and "neglect of parental duties."
The fugitive mother Fatma Gümüşel, who did not attend the hearing and has an arrest warrant, remains subject to the arrest order. The 20th Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Court of Justice ruled that Kadir İstekli should receive two separate sentences for "qualified sexual abuse of a child" between 2004-2013 when H. K. G. was under 18, and for "qualified sexual assault against a spouse" in 2020, stating that he was sentenced for only one crime.
The chamber also ruled that the prison sentences given to mother Fatma Gümüşel and father Yusuf Ziya Gümüşel should be increased due to their parental status.
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