In brief
Sadettin Karagoz, who began his charity, Hope Charity Store, to help Syrian refugees in Ankara, faces multiple accusations of sexual assault and exploitation. Victims describe distressing encounters, asserting that they were promised aid in exchange for sexual favors. Despite denying the claims, he is now in custody awaiting trial, as more women come forward emboldened by this investigation.
A Turkish charity owner at the center of sexual abuse allegations, brought to light by a BBC investigation, has been arrested.
BBC News Turkish revealed accusations that Sadettin Karagoz sexually exploited vulnerable women, promising them aid in return for sex. He denies all the allegations.
Mr. Karagoz set up his charity in Turkey's capital, Ankara, in 2014. Syrian refugees desperate for help said at first he seemed like an angel.
One of them, Madina, fled the Syrian civil war in 2016 and said that two years later, one of her children became critically ill and her husband abandoned her. Her name has been changed to protect her anonymity.
Left to care for three children alone, she went to Sadettin Karagoz's organisation, which translates as the Hope Charity Store. It gathers donations for refugees such as nappies, pasta, milk and clothes.
He told me: 'When you have nowhere to go, come to me and I will look after you,' she says. But when she did, Madina says he changed. She describes how Mr. Karagoz told her to go with him to an area in the office behind a curtain to get some supplies.
He grabbed me, she says. He started kissing me… I told him to get away from me. If I hadn't yelled, he would have tried to rape me.
Madina describes how she escaped from the building but Mr. Karagoz later went to her home. I didn't open the door because I was terrified, she says, explaining that he threatened to have her sent back to Syria.
Scared of repercussions, Madina says she never went to the police and did not tell anyone else what had happened.
Mr. Karagoz, a retired bank worker, denies the allegations and has told the BBC that his organisation has helped more than 37,000 people.
He says that the aid distribution area in the charity is small, crowded and monitored by CCTV so he could not have been alone with any woman.
In all, three women, including Madina, told the BBC that Mr. Karagoz had sexually assaulted and harassed them. Seven other people, including two former employees of his charity, say they either witnessed or heard first-hand testimony of him committing acts of sexual abuse between 2016 and 2024.
Batoul, another victim, expressed relief at his arrest, stating, I am truly happy for myself and for all the women who have suffered in silence and couldn't speak out because of fear.
