Inmate uses forged note copy for new $3.27M claim

Antalya's 6th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Zekai Kaplan in October 2025 to over six years in prison for fraud and forgery involving a $2.8 million promissory note. The court ruled the note was fabricated using Hasan Uzuner's genuine signature but without his authorization.

Following that verdict, the Antalya Regional Court of Justice cancelled the original enforcement proceeding in November 2025, and a commercial court confirmed in February 2026 that Uzuner owed no debt. Despite these rulings, Kaplan initiated a new enforcement action for $3.27 million using a photocopy of the same note while still in detention.

“The signature belongs to Uzuner, but the document was created using this signature.”

The Forensic Medicine Institute's November 2023 report had found adhesive residue and fiber lifting on the document, indicating the signature was transferred onto a fabricated text. Kaplan claimed he received the note in an envelope from Uzuner for a legitimate trade debt.

Uzuner, a hardware dealer in Antalya's former industrial zone, had his bank accounts blocked by the initial enforcement action, prompting his criminal complaint. The case spans a 2006 murder warrant, Kaplan's 2015 arrest, and his temporary pandemic release in 2023 when the first proceeding began.