Hungary has extradited Serdar Sertçelik to Turkey, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Saturday, returning a fugitive who had told a Budapest court that his life would be in danger if he were sent back.
Yerlikaya said in a post on X that Sertçelik was brought from Hungary to Turkey in a handover carried out with the participation of Turkish and Hungarian police.
🟥 “Kırmızı Bülten ile aradığımız Macaristan’da tutuklu bulunan A.B.K. Organize Suç Örgütü Yöneticisi Serdar Sertçelik Türkiye’de”
Emniyet Genel Müdürlüğü KOM Başkanlığı ve İnterpol-Europol Daire Başkanlığı görevlileri ile Macar Polisi tarafından, A.B.K. Organize suç örgütü… pic.twitter.com/1h25Quc7SX
— Ali Yerlikaya (@AliYerlikaya) January 31, 2026
Turkish media have described Sertçelik as a suspect and secret witness in a case tied to alleged Ankara organized crime figure Ayhan Bora Kaplan, a case that became politically charged after competing claims emerged about whether investigators tried to shape testimony to implicate politicians.
Yerlikaya did not provide details on when the extradition order was finalized by Hungarian authorities or where Sertçelik will be held in Turkey, but Turkish media said he is wanted on charges that include murder and membership in a criminal organization.
Sertçelik was arrested in Hungary on May 25, 2024, while attempting to enter the country with a fake passport.
Turkey had sought his return through an extradition request after he left the country despite being under house arrest and electronic monitoring, a flight that also became the subject of a separate investigation in Turkey into whether officials helped him escape.
In a July 2024 hearing Sertçelik told the Budapest court that he had “secret information” about Turkish politicians and said his life was in danger if he were returned.
The court asked Turkish authorities for details on the accusations in the extradition file and also sought assurances that Sertçelik would not face torture or inhumane treatment if extradited.
Sertçelik’s name entered the Turkish political debate after he appeared in videos and interviews claiming he was a secret witness known as “M7” and alleging that police in Ankara pressured him to include the names of prominent politicians in a statement, allegations that officials and pro-government media framed as an attempted “plot” inside the security bureaucracy.
The allegations helped trigger investigations and the detention of senior police officials in Ankara in 2024.