As the search for Narin Güran, the eight-year-old girl who went missing on 21 August in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır province in southeastern Turkey, continues without success, the latest information suggests that the girl’s older brother has been arrested in connection with the case.
According to Turkish news agencies, a statement issued on social media by Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç confirmed that one person has been arrested and is in custody as part of the investigation into Narin’s disappearance. ‘All details are being examined in detail to clarify the incident… Our wish is that our little Narin will be found safe and sound as soon as possible,’ the minister said.
Although Tunç did not reveal the identity of the detainee, media reported that the person who was taken into police custody was identified as 18-year-old E.G., who turned out to be the older brother of the missing girl. The arrest was reportedly made because of bite marks found on her brother’s arms, which investigators attributed to possible defensive injuries inflicted by the victim in a hypothetical struggle.
According to the latest information published yesterday, E.G. was transferred after the arrest to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Istanbul, where experts were unable to determine with certainty whether or not the bite marks on his arms correspond to Narin, and the detainee was taken back to Diyarbakır.
Family shows confidence in brother’s innocence
In statements made by Ali Rıza Güran, uncle of the girl’s father, he assured however that they are confident in the innocence of Narin’s brother, and that the wounds found on his arms are self-injuries he inflicted on himself.
‘This child is very sensitive. He ran down the stairs (when he heard about his sister’s disappearance) and told his uncle ‘my sister is missing’. We have no doubts about him. He had a phone in his hand and smashed it on the floor in front of his uncles. He bit himself and hurt himself. He is not someone who would do something like that,’ said the relative, who explained that E.G. was brought back to Diyarbakır but was detained again by the gendarmerie.
The investigation is still ongoing, but so far no clear clues or indications have been found as to why Narin disappeared or what her whereabouts might be. The last time that the girl was saw alive was saying goodbye to friends as she left a course before heading home, in footage captured by a security camera.
The search in Turkey has since then included searches of hundreds of vehicles and homes and more than 4,500 hectares of land. A child’s slipper found on 22 August by the roadside was eventually discarded as being of a different foot size of the girl’s; another slipper was found 2 km from her home two days ago, but the family concluded that it too did not belong to the girl, who had been missing for nine days.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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