Last Update:  Feb, 11, 2026

President Erdogan appointed Akın Gürlek, Istanbul’s notorious chief prosecutor, as Minister of Justice. As Minister of Justice, Gürlek is now effectively the boss of the entire judiciary, as this position also makes him president of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors. Gürlek is now the boss of the judges who will try the indictments he issued against CHP mayors in Istanbul, including Erdogan’s main competitor, Ekrem Imamoglu, during his term as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor.

His new appointment as Minister of Justice could be part of Erdogan’s strategy to neutralise the opposition CHP mayors of country wide, as he effectively run politically motivated lawfare against CHP mayors in Istanbul during his term as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor between October 2024 and February 11, 2026.

His term as the Chief Prosecutor of Istanbul

October 2024:  Turkey’s government-controlled Council of Judges and Prosecutors has appointed Deputy Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek as Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor.

Prior to his appointment as Deputy Minister of Justice in June 2022, Gürlek was a judge at the Istanbul Court and was notorious for trying all sorts of political cases and punishing lawyers, journalists and opposition politicians, as well as defying the rulings of the Constitutional Court.

During his term as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, he carried out campaign of lawfare against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and other district mayors from main opposition CHP. 

3 January 2025: Within the scope of an investigation conducted by the Terrorism and Organized Crimes Investigation Bureau of the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat was detained and arrested.

20 January 2025: Cem Aydın, the head of the CHP Youth Branch, was detained at his home on charges of “insulting a public official” and “targeting individuals involved in counter-terrorism” because the CHP Youth Branch, which he leads, shared on social media on 19 January a video that CHP Chairman Özgür Özel had described as a “mobile guillotine.” Aydın was released on condition of a travel ban and the requirement to report to a police station three times a week.

20 January 2025: Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu became the subject of an investigation initiated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on charges of “threat” and “targeting individuals involved in counter-terrorism” after he criticized the investigation concerning CHP Youth Branch Chairman Cem Aydın.

19 March 2025: As part of an Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) investigation conducted by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and numerous IMM officials were detained and arrested on a range of charges including alleged corruption, extortion, bribery, money laundering, terrorism-related offenses, and espionage. Such charges include accusations of aiding a designated terrorist organization, alongside the wider corruption probe.

Within the scope of the IMM operations that began on 19 March 2025, Bayrampaşa Mayor Hasan Mutlu, Beyoğlu Mayor İnan Güney, Beykoz Mayor Alaattin Köseler, Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan, Beylikdüzü Mayor Mehmet Murat Çalık, Büyükçekmece Mayor Hasan Akgün, Gaziosmanpaşa Mayor Hakan Bahçetepe, Avcılar Mayor Utku Caner Çaykara, Şile Mayor Özgür Kabadayı, as well as executives of IMM subsidiary companies, were also arrested.

4 July 2025: Istanbul prosecutors led by Gürlek  indicted İmamoğlu for using fake university diploma with trumped up allegations.

4 February 2026: In addition to corruption and forgery charges, Istanbul prosecutors led by Gürlek prepared an indictment alleging that İmamoğlu and several associates committed “political espionage,” seeking sentences of 15 to 20 years in prison for those charges.

The Anatomy of a Judge: Akın Gürlek — A Record of Power, Controversy, and Contested Justice

Akın Gürlek’s tenure as a judge in İstanbul has been marked by a long series of rulings that critics describe as politically charged, legally controversial, and frequently directed against dissenting voices. According to documentation compiled by legal observers and rights advocates, his courtroom became a central venue for cases involving lawyers, journalists, opposition politicians, academics, and civil society figures critical of President Erdoğan and the ruling AKP government.

He was first appointed to the 4th Commercial Court in Istanbul under a decree dated October 21, 2016. Unusually, he was later assigned as a peace criminal judge and subsequently served as a permanent or acting presiding judge in Istanbul’s 13th, 14th, 26th, and 37th high criminal courts. Because of his repeated reassignment across politically sensitive trials, critics began referring to him as a “roving (mobile) guillotine.”

Numerous rulings he issued were challenged before the Constitutional Court on the grounds that they violated freedom of expression protected under Article 26 of the Turkish Constitution; at least one violation was formally confirmed by the Court.

Below is a chronological record of some of arbitrary decisions associated with Gürlek’s judicial career in İstanbul:

15 April 2017 — After the İstanbul 25th High Criminal Court ordered the release of 21 out of 29 journalists on trial, the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched a new investigation the same night and issued arrest warrants. Acting as a Peace Criminal Judge, Gürlek ordered the re-arrest of 12 individuals, including singer Atilla Taş and journalist Murat Aksoy, on accusations of “attempting a coup.”

15 May 2017 — While serving at the İstanbul 2nd Criminal Judgeship of Peace, he ordered the arrest of journalist Oğuz Güven, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet’s website, for “terrorist propaganda” based on a tweet that had remained online for only 52 seconds.

7 September 2018 — As presiding judge of the İstanbul 26th High Criminal Court, he sentenced Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş and HDP deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder to prison terms of four years eight months and three years six months respectively for speeches delivered during the peaceful 2013 Newroz celebrations. The Constitutional Court later ruled the convictions unlawful and ordered retrial.

17 September 2018 — At the first hearing of a case against lawyers from the Contemporary Lawyers Association and the People’s Law Office, defendants were released. One day later, arrest warrants were issued again. Gürlek, appointed as substitute presiding judge because the original chair was on medical leave, ordered the same lawyers back into detention. He later became permanent president of that court.

11 December 2018 — As president of the İstanbul 37th High Criminal Court, he sentenced Professor Gençay Gürsoy to two years and three months in prison for signing the “We Will Not Be a Party to This Crime” peace petition. No sentence reduction was granted, citing his “negative demeanor” and lack of remorse.

12 December 2018 — He sentenced journalist Ece Sevim Öztürk to three years and one month in prison for a documentary she produced.

19 December 2018 — He sentenced prominent human rights defender and Turkish Medical Association chair Professor Şebnem Korur Fincancı to two years and six months in prison for signing the same peace petition. No reduction or suspension was applied.

20 March 2019 — As presiding judge, he sentenced 18 lawyers from the Contemporary Lawyers Association and the People’s Law Office to a combined total of 159 years, 1 month, and 30 days in prison.

6 September 2019 — He sentenced İstanbul CHP provincial chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu to multiple prison terms for terrorist propaganda,  insulting a public official, insulting the President,  denigrating the Turkish Republic. Kaftancıoğlu had played a decisive role in opposition candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu’s historic 2019 mayoral victory in İstanbul, ending a 25-year rule by Erdoğan-aligned administrations.

27 December 2019 — In the Sözcü newspaper trial, he handed prison sentences to journalists Emin Çölaşan, Necati Doğru, Metin Yılmaz, Mustafa Çetin, Yücel Arı, Gökmen Ulu, and Yonca Yücekaleli. The Court of Cassation later overturned the verdict, and all defendants were acquitted on retrial.

7 October 2020 — As president of the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court, he declared exiled journalist Can Dündar a fugitive and ordered confiscation of his movable and immovable assets. Dündar had previously fled Turkey after reporting on allegations that National Intelligence Organization trucks were transporting weapons to Syria. In December 2020 he received a sentence of 27 years and six months for espionage and aiding a terrorist organization without membership.

13 October 2020 — In the same court, Gürlek refused to implement a Constitutional Court ruling ordering retrial for opposition MP Enis Berberoğlu, asserting that the Constitutional Court had exceeded its authority.

10 May 2022 — Presiding over the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court, he rejected appeals against detention in the Gezi Park case for Osman Kavala, Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Ali Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, and Tayfun Kahraman.

Categories: Turkey Human Rights Blog