Salary claims from ETİ Maden

News Center

At the "Standing Up for the Nation's Will" rally in Ümraniye, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel claimed that Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akın Gürlek was appointed as a board member of ETİ Maden in Luxembourg and received a salary from there while he was serving as chief public prosecutor.

Özel, reminding that according to the Law on Judges and Prosecutors, "prosecutors cannot take on any other official or private duty and cannot engage in any income-generating activity," stated that Akın Gürlek did not answer the question, "Have you held any other position outside of official or private prosecutorship, have you earned any income from anywhere?" and made his allegations public.

Özel said, "The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office is a very well-paid position. (…) But then you see, he is appointed to this position on October 2, 2024, and then on November 29, 2024, Akın Gürlek is appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of the Eti Maden Joint Stock Company in Luxembourg. According to his own statement, he doesn't speak any languages. He has no proof of foreign language proficiency. The company's decisions are written in French. He speaks neither French nor sufficient English."

Özel, noting that Gürlek must be held accountable, asked, "He was appointed on November 29, 2024, and for nine months, including the day he arrested President Ekrem, he received salaries from these sources. When I came out on August 2 and said, 'I know what's happening in the Netherlands and Luxembourg,' he hurriedly resigned from his Board of Directors position on August 6, 2025. Do you know that he was paid a salary by Eti Maden's Luxembourg-based company? If you knew, how did you keep him in office? If not, what will you do from now on?"

WILL YOU RESIGN?

Addressing Akın Gürlek, Özel said, "You have earned substantial income from Luxembourg through a company that makes decisions in Euros and in a language you do not understand. Will you resign tomorrow morning (yesterday) or not? You cannot do this job with a salary of 168 thousand liras, a mansion on the Bosphorus, luxury official cars, and all sorts of expenses.

"Are you saying that the task assigned to me—the purge of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the revocation of his diploma, and the assassination of the CHP and its mayors—cannot be done for this salary?" "Hey Erdoğan," you say, "This kid wouldn't do all this hard work and all this injustice for this salary. Let's give him a salary in euros from Eti Maden"? "If that's the case, then if the reward for this humiliation is a secret second salary from this state-owned company, shame on you both," he said.

JET INVESTIGATION

Immediately after Özel's speech, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued a statement announcing the launch of an investigation into the CHP leader. Following the investigation, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç and AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik issued statements on social media, stating that "Erdoğan has his own red lines" and that they would hold Özel accountable politically and legally.

'JUDICIAL GANG' RESPONSE

Özel, in a statement regarding the investigation, said, "Akın Gürlek, in violation of the law, served on the board of directors of a public company abroad and received a salary for nine months. What should be done in a state governed by the rule of law regarding this scandal is to immediately launch an investigation and dismiss the person who committed this crime. However, the gang in Çağlayan, which is still messing with families, fathers, and children, is launching an investigation against us instead of holding them accountable. Do your utmost!" Addressing Erdoğan in a statement on his social media account, Özel said, "The nation expects you to do what is necessary against this gang in Çağlayan, which is hostile to the state and the nation. I won't say it again to avoid insulting animals: Take care of your trash. These things will do neither you nor the country any good!"

∗∗∗

COMPENSATION CASE AGAINST ÖZEL

President Erdoğan, a member of the AKP, filed a compensation lawsuit against CHP Chairman Özgür Özel. Erdoğan demanded 500,000 Turkish Lira in the lawsuit filed with the Ankara Civil Court of First Instance. Erdoğan's lawyer, Hüseyin Aydın, stated on social media, "A 500,000 Turkish Lira compensation lawsuit has been filed with the Ankara Civil Court of First Instance due to the inappropriate statements and baseless accusations made by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel targeting our President during his speech at the rally held in Ümraniye on November 5, 2025. A criminal complaint has also been filed with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office for insulting the President. This is respectfully submitted for the public's information."