A Turkish court has transferred control of all assets belonging to prominent disaster-relief charity AHBAP to a state-run fund and initiated its dissolution, as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused people targeted in an investigation into the organization of exploiting the 2023 earthquakes for political and financial gain, the BirGün daily reported.
The İstanbul 8th Criminal Court of Peace appointed the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) to manage AHBAP, its assets and affiliated entities. The ruling said the charity’s operations had ended, its accounts and assets had been frozen and the process of dissolution had begun.
The decision effectively shuts down one of Turkey’s most prominent civil society organizations, which collected large amounts in donations and played a major role in relief efforts following devastating earthquakes in February 2023.
Speaking at a government communications conference in Ankara on Tuesday, Erdoğan said documents uncovered in the investigation showed “what kind of operations were carried out against the state and the nation” during the earthquake response.
“It is becoming clear who had what kind of improper relationships with whom,” Erdoğa said. “The people who engaged in political and economic opportunism by exploiting the earthquake are today answering to justice.”
“Regardless of where it leads, we will not allow those who seek benefit from tension and polarization to use the means at their disposal as a weapon against the state.”
Erdoğan did not cite specific evidence. AHBAP founder and rock musician Haluk Levent and other suspects have denied wrongdoing.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating allegations that donations collected after the two earthquakes on February 6 were transferred to suspects’ personal accounts, used for gambling or passed on to third parties.
The investigation also includes contracts with companies that allegedly failed to complete housing projects despite receiving payments from AHBAP, property transfers to Levent’s assistant and checks issued by the charity.
Prosecutors are pursuing charges including money laundering, membership in a criminal organization and violations of Turkey’s Associations Law.
Levent and 27 other suspects have been jailed pending trial during several waves of arrests since mid-July.
Another 13 people, including construction company executives, were detained Monday as prosecutors examined housing and container purchases, property transfers and other financial transactions.
Levent has said his personal debts and business dealings were unrelated to AHBAP. Other suspects, including lawyer Ece Güner and digital media producer Oğuzhan Uğur, have also denied the accusations.
Uğur, whose Babala TV platform helped coordinate and publicize relief efforts after the earthquakes, was jailed with eight others on allegations of breach of trust and money laundering.
Founded by Levent in 2017, AHBAP became one of Turkey’s best-known charities through its response to wildfires, floods and earthquakes.
Its public profile grew substantially after the February 2023 earthquakes, which killed more than 53,000 people in Turkey and prompted widespread criticism of the government’s initial disaster response.