2 people face prison term for ‘leaking’ data of foundation close to government

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The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has lodged an indictment regarding the disclosure of the documents of the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA) regarding the allegations of undue allocation of buildings, transfer of public funding and caderization within the state.

The TÜGVA, a foundation with close ties to the government and with President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son Bilal Erdoğan among its founders, has been cited as the "aggrieved party" in the indictment, which seeks 3 years to 6 years in prison for Metin Cihan and 3 years, 9 months to 10 years, 6 months in prison for Ramazan Aydoğdu, who was arrested on November 24, 2021.

The indictment has indicated that Ramazan Aydoğdu accessed the files of the foundation, considered to be acquired from the TÜGVA's computers, "without consent or the right to do so" and argued that Aydoğdu sent these files to Metin Cihan by manipulating and changing them.

Aydoğdu has been charged with repeatedly "tempering with, destroying, making inaccessible the data in the information system and placing data in the system" and repeatedly "obtaining or disseminating personal data in a manner contrary to the law". Metin Cihan has also been charged with repeatedly "obtaining personal data in a manner contrary to the law".

If the indictment is accepted, Aydoğdu and Cihan will start standing trial before the İstanbul Criminal Court of First Instance.

What happened?

It was revealed that the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA), a foundation with close ties to the government and with President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son Bilal Erdoğan among its founders, kept the credentials of some people in its database and helped these people to get jobs in institutions through references.

Journalist Metin Cihan, on October 12, 2021 published the documents that he said had been leaked to him from the TÜGVA.

Among the documents, there were lists of people to be appointed in state institutions, including the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), the General Directorate of Security, the Ministry of Justice and judicial institutions.

Releasing a statement after the revelations, TÜGVA Chair Enes Eminoğlu said that the documents were fake.

"TÜGVA is not the only target in this plot. All of our foundations and associations that serve national and spiritual values are on the target," he said. "Shared documents are created, forged documents. If they have documents, they should deliver them to the country's prosecutors."

The İstanbul Public Prosecutor's Office Terror and Organized Crimes Bureau launched an investigation into the incident and identified Ramazan A. as a suspect. Entertaining "the possibility that he had been made to infiltrate into the foundation as part of an organized plan", the police teams took Ramazan A. into custody upon the instruction of the prosecutor's office on November 21, 2021. A. has been arrested. (HA/SD)