Shortly after release
Mafioso and Erdoğan critic dies in German brothel
Updated on July 7th, 2025 – 11:52 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
On the Internet, Muhammed Yakut threatened with revelations to the Turkish president. Now he died during a brothel visit.
Muhammed Yakut, a suspected mafia boss from Turkey and critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was found dead in a sauna club in the Ruhr area. According to the “Bild”, Yakut had only been released from a Dutch prison a few hours earlier.
According to the Recklinghausen police, a death investigation is currently underway. In conversation with the “Bild”, a police spokeswoman said: “We can currently only say that there is a death investigation, because a 53-year-old with Turkish nationality in a sauna business died on the night of July 1, 2025.”
Yakut had apparently had to go directly to North Rhine-Westphalia after his release. There he visited the “Penelope” sauna club with a companion. He suddenly collapsed on the upper floor of the club, and attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful. According to the newspaper, initial investigations showed that he could have consumed cocaine.
To clarify the cause of death, the Dortmund public prosecutor ordered an autopsy. A toxicological report should clarify whether other substances played a role. According to the public prosecutor, the preliminary finding indicates a sudden cardiac death, so far there have been no indications of a foreign fault. According to the “Bild”, results of the toxicological report will only be expected in several months.
Yakut was no stranger to the Turkish underworld. He was considered a close confidant of the fleeing mafia boss Sedat Peker, who had caused a sensation in Turkey with government-critical videos. Both had repeatedly accused President Erdoğan and the AKP government party corruption and entanglements in criminal machinations.
Yakut had recently made serious allegations against the Turkish government in videos on YouTube. According to “Bild” information, he was sought with an international arrest warrant for defamation and other crimes. Already in the spring he is said to have met in the Netherlands with the mafia leader Cemil ÖNAL, who also threatened with revelations.
ÖNAL had announced the “Welt am Sonntag”, he had evidence of illegal financial flows and contacts between Turkish politics and organized crime. He said his information was so explosive that they could even put President Erdoğan into trouble.
Two months before Yakut’s death, ÖNAL was shot in a suburb of the Hague in a hotel restaurant. It is said to have been a targeted killing as part of a meeting, which was about legal support for Yakut.
