Turkey detains ten former prison staff over suspicious death of ex-MIT adviser
Turkish authorities have arrested ten former Silivri prison employees in connection with the 2011 suspicious death of former MIT adviser Kaşif Kozinoğlu, amid probes of possible FETÖ links.
On Monday, Turkish police detained ten former staff members of the Silivri prison in Istanbul, where former National Intelligence Organization adviser Kaşif Kozinoğlu died under unclear circumstances in 2011. Most of the suspects were prison guards at the time of Kozinoğlu's death, which had been officially attributed to a heart attack but is now being treated as suspicious. Investigators are probing potential ties to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), and one guard, Ferhat Veysi Gül, remains at large after allegedly silencing an emergency alarm on the day Kozinoğlu collapsed and later escaping to France in 2016.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced that the Department for Investigating Unsolved Crimes reopened the case in August 2026, reviewing surveillance video, medical files, and testimonies from prison officials, medical personnel, cellmates and Kozinoğlu’s wife. Kozinoğlu, a key figure in the Ergenekon investigations, had warned he feared being killed shortly before his death. The renewed inquiry reflects Turkey’s broader effort to revisit cases affected by alleged FETÖ infiltration of the judiciary after the 2016 coup attempt.
How the sides frame it
MODERATE AGREEMENTBoth camps report that prosecutors reopened the 2011 death case and detained ten former prison staff, but right-leaning coverage frames the death as suspicious and highlights alleged FETÖ links and alleged misconduct, whereas left-leaning coverage presents the reopening and detentions in a straightforward, factual manner.
LEFT
Left-leaning coverage presents the reopening of the probe and the detention of ten staff as a routine legal action, emphasizing the confidentiality order and investigative team without casting judgment on the death.
RIGHT
Right-leaning coverage portrays the death as suspicious, stressing possible FETÖ involvement, alleged guard misconduct, and broader political implications such as the Ergenekon trial being fabricated.
The left emphasises
- prosecutors rescinded the 2012 decision and reopened the case
- ten former prison staff were detained, with one suspect abroad linked to the Gülen movement
- a confidentiality order and a dedicated investigative team were established
The right emphasises
- the death is treated as suspicious despite an earlier heart-attack attribution
- investigators are probing ties to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ)
- claims that the Ergenekon trial was based on fabricated evidence by FETÖ members
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