What is the link between Bayram Özbek, arrested in the Kozinoğlu investigation, and the Kurtlar Vadisi screenplay?

23 September 2026 — For the first time, the Kaşif Kozinoğlu investigation has produced an arrest whose stated grounds name a television screenplay. The Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office announced that Bayram Özbek, a former police chief found to have been involved in the screenplay of the series "Kurtlar Vadisi", had been remanded in custody in the investigation into the suspicious 2011 death of former MİT officer Kozinoğlu in Silivri Prison. The charges: "establishing or managing an armed terrorist organisation" and "incitement to intentional killing". The news broke in the evening via DHA; Sabah published at 18.54, Yeni Şafak at 19.00, Aydınlık at 19.03, GZT at 19.09, Haber7 at 19.19 (Muhammet Arif Güreli, updated 20.49), Nefes at 19.25 and Diken at 19.29. Özbek was already imprisoned in FETÖ proceedings; in this file he is a suspect under a remand order, with no trial opened and no verdict handed down.

What exactly did the prosecutor say?

Gazete Oksijen published the statement verbatim: "Within the scope of the investigation conducted by our Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the killing of Kaşif Kozinoğlu, the suspect Bayram Özbek, who has been found to have been involved in the screenplay of the series 'Kurtlar Vadisi' in connection with the incident, has been ordered remanded in custody by decision of the Silivri Criminal Judgeship of Peace on the charges brought against him of 'establishing or managing an armed terrorist organisation' and 'incitement to intentional killing'." The statement contains not a single detail about what that involvement was: no episode, no scene, no date, no named contact. The investigation is running under a confidentiality order announced by Justice Minister Akın Gürlek; what reaches the public is limited to prosecution announcements and what reporters obtain.

Who is Bayram Özbek?

A man who served in the police force and rose to the rank of police chief. One conviction against him is final: according to Gazete Oksijen, the 12-year prison sentence he received for "membership of an armed terrorist organisation" in the case over FETÖ's frame-up of the Tahşiyeciler group was upheld by the Court of Cassation in 2021. According to Nefes he was at one point a wanted fugitive, was caught in a 2017 operation in Istanbul's Kartal district and remanded, and findings that he used ByLock were reported. Yeni Şafak listed allegations previously raised in the press: that he was part of a special team formed under Ali Fuat Yılmazer and Recep Güven at the Istanbul Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism branches, that he took part in illegal wiretapping, that he infiltrated the Çağdaş Eğitim Vakfı foundation under the false name "Hayri Canöz", and that his name appeared on a 1999 list drawn up by the Ankara Police Department. These are reported as claims; apart from the Tahşiyeciler conviction they are not settled judgments. In the press he is referred to as "FETÖ's screenwriter" and by the nickname "a thousand faces".

What does being involved in a screenplay mean, and what does it not mean?

The prosecutor's sentence is an investigative finding and a ground for remand; it does not mean guilt is established, since there is as yet neither an indictment nor a trial. Outlets carried the same statement with different force, and the difference matters: DHA and the prosecution text say "found to have been involved in the screenplay", while Sabah and GZT wrote "found to have had a hand in the series' screenplay"; Aydınlık used the wording "it was established that Özbek at one point interfered with the screenplay of Kurtlar Vadisi and played a role in steering public perception"; BirGün's headline said "a person who contributed to the screenplay"; Dobra Haber wrote flatly "one of the series' screenwriters". All of these derive from a single sentence by the prosecution. No source records Özbek as credited among the series' writers, and what "involved" corresponds to was not explained.

Which series had Özbek's name been linked to before?

Not Kurtlar Vadisi, but Samanyolu TV productions. According to Nefes, Özbek took part in the script work of "Tek Türkiye" and "Kollama", both broadcast on that channel. Yeni Şafak went further: it reported that he wrote the "Dark Council" dialogues in "Tek Türkiye" and "Şefkat Tepe", and that operations were mounted against people and groups targeted through those dialogues. The same report carried a call by journalist Ersin Çelik on TVNET's programme "Siyaseten": that series aired on Samanyolu TV between 2010 and 2014 should also be examined by the authorities, since in his view more could be learned there than from Kurtlar Vadisi. So while the screen side of the investigation is currently focused on Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu, the debate is widening to productions on other channels of that era.

What has the production side said?

The Kurtlar Vadisi camp has explicitly rejected the interference claim. Producer and screenwriter Raci Şaşmaz gave a witness statement on 14 September, published by Hürriyet (Musa Kesler) on 15 September. There he said: "This open slander has been answered several times over 20 years; let us answer once more. We have no connection, and never have had, with any power or criminal centre, legal or illegal. Kurtlar Vadisi photographs society and, drawing on open sources, turns that into a format the audience can follow through the power of drama." On the claims naming Ali Fuat Yılmazer he was direct: "There is no possibility of us knowing someone's death in advance. Moreover, the claims on social media that the FETÖ member Ali Fuat Yılmazer interfered with the screenplay are pure slander; I do not know Ali Fuat Yılmazer and have never had any relationship with him." Şaşmaz also said the "Kaşifoğlu" character was written to dramatise conflicts inside the intelligence world, that the character's story ended with his death, and that it had no connection to real life. The day after the arrest, on 24 September, the production company Pana Film issued a written statement on its social media account (published verbatim by Nefes, Karar and İz Gazete): "Because the series 'Kurtlar Vadisi' and 'Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu', which we produced, were named in news reports on 23/09/2026 concerning the investigation conducted by the Silivri Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, and linked with the suspect named in those reports, it has become necessary to make the following statement: Bayram Özbek never at any time worked as a screenwriter on the productions 'Kurtlar Vadisi' and 'Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu', was not part of the writing team and did not hold an advisory role." The statement denies three formal roles — screenwriter, writing-team member, consultant. Whether it contradicts the prosecutor's wording "found to have been involved" cannot be said today, because the prosecutor has not explained what "involved" refers to; İz Gazete headlined its report "Pana Film said the opposite of the prosecutor's statement", but that is the newspaper's interpretation. No separate statement from the Şaşmaz brothers specifically about Özbek appears in the sources.

What else happened in the case that day?

According to Sabah and Dobra Haber, Vatan Party chairman Doğu Perinçek came to Silivri Courthouse on 23 September, gave a statement as a witness and left after the procedure; he is not a suspect. A day earlier, on 22 September, Enver Altaylı, a former MİT officer convicted in FETÖ proceedings, gave a statement as a suspect and, according to Medyascope, was remanded for "incitement to intentional killing"; according to Aydınlık, instead of defending himself Altaylı targeted Doğu Perinçek and the newspaper Aydınlık, and a separate investigation was reported to have been opened into an allegation that he threatened the prosecutor during his statement. On the number of detainees, sources diverge: Sabah and GZT wrote that Özbek's arrest brought it to 8; BirGün and Diken said 9 the same day. The sources do not explain the discrepancy — rather than choosing one, both figures belong on the record. Those remanded earlier include Ali İşgören, the Silivri chief public prosecutor at the time, prison prosecutor Necip Doğan, journalist Selahattin Günday, former journalist Osman Arslan and two health workers.

What happens next?

Three documents will set the direction of the file: the Forensic Medicine Institute's First Specialisation Board report on the cause of death, based on the exhumation samples; the report of the expert panel appointed by the prosecution to examine episodes of Kurtlar Vadisi Pusu; and the indictment to be drawn up afterwards. As of 23 September 2026, what is known: Özbek has been remanded and the prosecution's stated grounds invoked the series' screenplay. What is unknown: what the involvement consisted of, which episodes it concerns, what he said in his statement, and how an indictment would establish the link. The question of whether fiction knew reality in advance has been debated since 2011; this arrest moved it onto legal ground but has not yet answered it.