Sadettin Karagoz, a charity shop owner in Turkey who has gained a reputation as the “grandfather of refugees” for his work helping refugees, has allegedly been using his position to sexually abuse vulnerable female Syrian refugees, according to a BBC Turkish investigation published last week
Over the course of a year-long investigation on Karagoz, the BBC spoke with multiple Syrian women in Ankara who claimed he sexually abused them. Karagoz denies all the accusations. Seven people, including two former employees, told the site they witnessed or heard first-hand accounts of Karagoz sexually abusing women between 2016 and 2024.
After opening the ‘Little Aleppo’ Umut Charity Store in Altındag in 2014, the same neighborhood inhabited by many of those who escaped the Assad regime, Karagoz became embedded in the aid network in the community.
Medina, who fled to Turkey in 2016 from Aleppo, told the BBC that she was directed to the shop after finding herself struggling to care for her children alone. It was here that she collected donations of diapers, pasta, oil, milk, and clothes.
She recounted how Karagoz initially told her, "My door is always open to you. When you have nowhere else to go, come to me and I will help you," but when she returned to the shop later, she said he had changed his tone and treatment of her.
She said that soon Karagoz began touching her without consent, and he took her behind the curtain in the shop. "He grabbed me, told me he liked me. He started kissing me. I screamed, told him to let go of me. If I hadn't screamed, he would have tried to rape me," she said.
Medina claimed she ran from the store after telling Karagoz that she would go to the police, but Karagoz continued to insist she stay.
Medina said Karagoz later came to the house she lived in with her children and “said terrible things to me, insulted me... I didn't open the door, I was terrified."
She claimed that he also threatened to have her sent back to Syria, and the threat prevented her from seeking help from authorities.
"I couldn't trust any man... I became distant, depressed. I wanted to die. The only thing that kept me going was my children,” she shared. "I still have friends who ask him for help... He is such an influential person, even if we complain, who would listen to us, who would care?
Nada, a 27-year-old Syrian refugee mother who visited the store, told BBC News, "At first, he was like an angel descended from the sky," but then quickly began insisting that he would "only help her if she went with him to an empty apartment."
She claimed that Karagoz told her, "It won't take long, just 10 minutes... If you don't come, I won't give you anything."
Despite feeling uneasy about the interaction, poverty pushed Nada to return to the store for diapers for her son. It was during this visit that she said Karagoz took her to an area behind the curtain.
"He was holding the diapers in one hand, and the other was free. He tried to touch my breasts. He told me, 'Don't be afraid, it's normal,'" she said. "He approached me from behind, grabbed my hand, and put it on his genitals. He was like a beast attacking me.
"My whole body was shaking. I was crying. He was telling me, 'Calm down. This is normal, it will be over soon.'"
Nada said she ran from the store and began quietly warning women not to go there, but could not tell her husband or openly accuse him, Karagoz, due to fears of stigma and blame.
A third woman, who has since moved to Germany, claimed Karagoz sexually assaulted her. The single mother of three said that while she was collecting resources for her children, “he put his hands on my hips.”
“I got angry, very angry, and pushed him away. I left the care package in my hand and walked out of the store," she said.
She said she hopes speaking out anonymously will help "many women who have gone through what she has been through."
Employees testify about abuse
"There was a small room behind Karagoz's desk where we kept the care packages. We were used to seeing him harass women in that room," a former employee told BBC Turkish.
A woman complained to the police that Karagoz had sexually harassed and assaulted her in 2019, according to official documents. However, the authorities did not pursue the matter due to a lack of evidence.
Police have questioned him at least twice so far.
Denying the accusation
Denying accusations made by three women, Karagoz said he has helped more than 37,000 people, mostly refugees, at his store and noted that he has received both national and international support for his charitable work.
He denied the possibility that he could have been inappropriate with a woman, as the area is allegedly crowded, he is never alone with women there, and the store is monitored with security cameras.
He accused the women who claimed he acted inappropriately of being engaged in crimes and drugs, saying that was the reason behind their allegations.
"More women would come forward to speak out" if the allegations were true, he claimed. "Three people, five people, 10 people [might complain]. These things happen. If you had said 100, 200 [people accused me], okay, then you could have believed I actually did these things."
After showing the BBC medical paperwork showing he had one of his two testicles removed, along with his diagnosis of high blood pressure and diabetes, he denied it was physically possible for him to have committed the assaults.
Dr. Ates Kadioglu, a male sexual health specialist at Istanbul University, told the site that "in cases where one testicle is removed, the testosterone level remains at 90% and therefore the person's sexual life will not be affected."