Ruling AKP deputy likens Turkish prosecutor Öz’s fate to prosecutor found dead at home

ISTANBUL

On April 12, a friend of Prosecutor Murat Gök found him dead in his apartment in Samsun. CİHAN photo

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Ali Aşlık has said the fate of controversial prosecutor Zekeriya Öz will be like that of another prosecutor who was found dead in his home after opening a probe into corruption allegations last year.

“Prosecutor Öz will prepare his end like Prosecutor Murat Gök did! What was the saying: Don’t do wrong to those suffering; it will come back to you,” Aşlık posted via his Twitter account late on Jan. 8.

Gök opened several investigations into corruption allegations in a number of district municipalities in İzmir, before being removed from the İzmir prosecutor’s office and appointed to the Black Sea province of Samsun in April 2013.

On April 12, a friend of Gök found him dead in his apartment in Samsun.

Before his death, he had been receiving treatment for lung failure. In November 2013, forensic reports announced Gök’s cause of death to be “natural.”

Aşlık’s Twitter remarks came after Öz, who was removed from his post as deputy Istanbul chief prosecutor after opening a corruption probe including the sons of three former Cabinet members, told reporters that he had been “threatened” by two people sent by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In a press statement issued on Jan. 8, Öz said Erdoğan had sent two former members of the high judiciary to him carrying a message that he “would not be harmed” so long as he halted the graft investigation that he was overseeing.

The accusations were swiftly rejected by Erdoğan, who described them as “lies and slander” in a written statement.