Turkish prosecutors have detained nine more people, including journalist Selahattin Günday, as part of a reopened investigation into the 2011 prison death of former National Intelligence Organization (MİT) official Kaşif Kozinoğlu.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek has pursued a campaign to resolve unsolved killings since taking office in February 2026, and the Kozinoğlu case is among those revisited under that effort.
Kozinoğlu died in custody days before he was due to appear in court on Nov. 12, 2011. Those detained include a doctor, an ambulance driver, emergency medical technicians, Günday and cameraman İdris Tiftikçi.
Günday was a young courthouse reporter at the time and among the first to report suspicions that Kozinoğlu's death was not natural, despite assessments from prosecutors — later revealed to be affiliated with the Gülen movement — who classified it as a natural death.
Günday's lawyer, Hüseyin Ersöz, said his client was detained on the order of the Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and is being held at a Gendarmerie Regiment Command facility, with no information given on when questioning would begin.
'Selahattin Günday is a respected member of the press, known for his reporting and his commitment to journalistic ethics. We find it strange that his name is being linked to the Kaşif Kozinoğlu investigation,' Ersöz said.
Right after Kozinoğlu's death, Günday reached the official's lawyer, Hüseyin Derin Yarsuvat, and was the first journalist to report his account. Yarsuvat told Günday at the time, in remarks also published by Hürriyet: 'I have no doubt Kozinoğlu suffered a heart attack. But what triggered the heart attack? Someone having a heart attack is not left waiting this long.'
Kozinoğlu served in the Special Warfare Department and Special Forces Command and took part in numerous covert operations; he even named his son “Özel”, meaning 'special.' He was arrested in 2011 at the request of prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, a fugitive Gülenist, and died in prison before he could stand trial.
Ten Silivri Prison guards were detained in a first wave operation on Sept. 7.
Gürlek said the investigation had advanced following statements from a former prison staff member who is a fugitive abroad and faces legal proceedings over alleged Gülen movement ties. 'Kaşif Kozinoğlu was an exceptional figure raised by the state,' Gürlek said. 'There are debates over the exact cause of death — poisoning, a heart attack, the effect of medication, or natural death? All of this is being examined using scientific and forensic evidence. It would certainly be wrong to say in advance that this was definitely a murder.'
Prosecutors also ordered Kozinoğlu's grave exhumed; it was due to be opened Sept. 11, with findings to be examined by the Forensic Medicine Institute.
