On December 17-25, 2013, a significant corruption and bribery operation took place in Turkey. This operation, conducted by the police, prosecutors, and other authorities, initiated investigations into numerous individuals, including high-ranking government officials. The operation deepened debates on the internal workings of the government and efforts to combat corruption during that period.

However, the events that unfolded after the operation transformed into a political and legal crisis triggered by a series of incidents. Government officials labeled the operation as an "attempted coup," leading to the dismissal of certain police officers and prosecutors involved, with new appointments being made in their place. Additionally, following the operation, numerous media outlets were shut down or underwent changes in management, journalists were arrested, and legal proceedings were initiated against several individuals.

This process raised concerns about human rights violations, non-adherence to democratic norms, and the rule of law in Turkey. Many national and international human rights organizations expressed alarm over the developments during this period, highlighting their worrisome implications for democracy and human rights.

On December 17-25, 2013, a major corruption and bribery operation took place in Turkey.

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   5. "The contents of the file seemed very solid; as a result of meticulous and detailed work, the bags Reza Zerrab sent to ministers' children through these channels, particularly to an educational foundation, and the money in these bags were identified on video and photo."

10. Minister of Environment and Urbanization Bayraktar:  "I do not accept the pressure put on me by Prime Minister Erdogan to resign and issue a declaration to relieve me because of the operation on bribery and corruption allegations."

   Arrested while serving in the Organized Crimes Branch, Nazmi Ardıç says: 'I feel no remorse for being a captive in Silivri prisons. Being detained or arrested does not diminish innocent individuals; on the contrary, it magnifies them.' 

   - Nazmi Ardıç (Former Police Chief sentenced to 10 years and whose wife was also arrested a week later)

  
  In 2015, Yasin Topçu, a former Deputy Director of the Financial Branch, was detained when he came to the Istanbul Courthouse to support the relatives of arrested police officers waiting for their release. Topçu was only doing his job as a police officer and had helped to bring corruption to light. 
   
 


   Osman Özgür Açıkgöz, the police chief who turned himself in with his lawyer, has been under arrest since 2014. His wife Zeliha Ö. Açıkgöz, who said "We took refuge in our Allah who wrote the real scenario", was arrested in 2017. In 2019, she was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison.


   14. "Tens of thousands of public officials were reassigned, hundreds were suspended and their families were left devastated. For months, the government prevented a parliamentary investigation into corruption from being put on the parliamentary agenda."


   6. "We had no intention of carrying out an operation before the elections. It stemmed from the attempt to dismiss the Director of the Financial Branch and myself. We launched the operation because the Minister of Interior was involved in corruption and saw the risk of his relationship with his accomplice being exposed." N. Ardıç | Police Chief

   1. “In the December 17-25, 2013 investigation conducted by Turkey's Financial Crimes Branch, Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab was found to have engaged in illegal gold trade and money laundering in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to 4 ministers. But this time it was the police who went to jail, not the criminals!”

   On July 22, 2014, Yurt Atayün and a little before the June 7, 2015 elections, Anadolu Atayün turned themselves in to the police. Since then, both have been detained on unrealistic grounds. One brother is being held in Istanbul Silivri Prison and the other in Ankara Sincan Prison.
    Both were officers involved in the December 17-25 corruption investigations.


   Ayhan Arıkanoğlu was arrested after the December 17-25 operations and his wife Ayşe Arıkanoğlu was arrested in 2017. In 2019, Ayşe was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months for alleged membership in a terrorist organization.

Ömer Köse, 
   former Istanbul Anti-Terror Branch Director Ömer Köse has been under arrest since 2014. Since 2018, Köse has been in solitary confinement in solitary confinement, his access to his lawyer is restricted, his room is kept extra cold and he is left without water even though he is very affected by cold due to his blood disease.

12. "The directors of the five branches that carried out the operation were dismissed; later the dismissals spread to other provinces and 33 directors were replaced on the same day. This intervention was not limited to the police and two prosecutors were added to the operation."

   Yakup Saygılı, the former Istanbul Financial Branch Director, has been in prison for 8 years for his role in the December 17 corruption operation. Saygılı's father Rasim Saygılı (83) passed away. However, Yakup Saygılı was not allowed to attend his father's funeral. 
   
We question how justice allows this tragic situation.

Ömer Köse 
   Köse continues to be subjected to systematic torture on top of the arbitrary restrictions imposed on him in prison.Previously his sister Selda Özdemir and son Faruk S. Köse were arrested. After the release of his son, his wife Semra Köse was arrested.
   We will not forget our police officers who do their duty properly!

   2. "The investigation continued for nearly two years. During this time, it was documented that the Iranian businessman was able to influence four ministers with bribes worth hundreds of millions of dollars, running the bribery traffic through the ministers' children and receiving immunity in return.“


   8. "Within the scope of the December 25 investigation, a large bribery pool was created for a group of pro-business cronies by promising some important areas of the state through public tenders. Privileged names were at the head of this bribery pool."“

3. “While these events were taking place, it was also recorded that black money transfers were taking place through a state-owned bank, which put the Turkish banking system at great risk, and that tons of gold were transferred using Turkish airspace and Turkish airports, while no taxes were paid."

   15. "In this process, broadcast bans were also quickly imposed to prevent the truth from being revealed and to cover up the issue. Broadcast bans could now be imposed on almost any subject, the press was removed from many points where it could report news, and the broadcasting channels they had used for years were closed down."


   4. "Investigating billions of dollars of figures that people cannot even imagine in their dreams, the teams followed the suspects step by step, videotaped them, documented the purchases and added them to the file.”

   Mahir Çakallı worked in the police force for 25 years and served as Deputy Chief of Police in Istanbul. During his tenure, he fought against those who were against right and justice. He was unlawfully dismissed with a 2.5-day investigation. In December 2018, he was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment in the December 25 investigation.


Kazım Aksoy 
   Kazım Aksoy, a deputy branch manager who took part in the December 17-25 investigations, has been in solitary confinement for 10 years. His wife Sümeyye Aksoy struggled to survive in prison for 4 years with a completely shattered hip bone.


   16. "The perception of corruption was being covered up in some way. To this end, dozens of high-ranking police officers, who may or may not have been involved in the December 17/25 operation, were detained without evidence or documentation, on the accusation that they were plotting a coup."

11. "I state that a large part of the zoning plans in the investigation file, which were approved in accordance with the law, were made on the instructions of Mr. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. For this reason, I express my belief that Mr. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan should resign in order to relieve the nation."

13. "Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş, who has been leading the long-running investigation, has been dismissed. Meanwhile, if you are wondering what happened to the minister's children and the Iranian businessman who were arrested with a lot of information and documents, they were released by changing prosecutors and judges."


   9. "December 17/25 operated differently from other democratic structures that are healthy and believe in the rule of law. In Turkey, the political power, in a coup d'état against the state, did not listen to the judiciary and forcibly prevented the judiciary from functioning. This constitutes a constitutional crime." Mehmet Altan

   
7 . "Within the framework of the investigation into money laundering and bribery crimes, the children of the then Ministers of Interior, Economy, Environment and Urbanization, Reza Zarrab and the then General Manager of Halkbank were detained in simultaneous operations organized in Istanbul and Ankara."