The European district of Kağıthane, north of Istanbul, was shaken a few days ago by an espectacular incident worthy of a movie when a suspect tried to shoot a man in the street; the alleged victim, who was wounded but managed to get hold of his attacker’s gun, ended up becoming his attacker’s pursuer, starting a chase through the city after the shooting, which ended with the intervention of the police, in what the first police investigations point to a possible settling of scores.
The incident took place on 26 January at around 5:30 a.m. in the Çağlayan neighbourhood. As reported days later by the Turkish news agency DHA, a man identified as Mekin H. opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle at Sedat İ., who was walking down the street at the time and was shot in the shoulder; after a chase and a struggle between the two, and despite being hit several times with the butt of the gun, Sedat İ. managed to snatch the weapon from his attacker, using it to shoot back at Mekin H., who got into his car and fled the scene.
Following these events – which were recorded by security cameras – and upon hearing the gunshots, members of the Kağıthane Public Security Headquarters initiated the pursuit of the suspect Mekin H., who crashed first into another car and then into a police vehicle near the Çağlayan tunnel. Mekin H. was arrested by police officers at the scene and taken into custody, while another gun he was carrying was seized.
As part of the initial investigation, police also stopped on suspicion another vehicle driven by a man identified as Çetin G., 37 years old; upon inspection of the interior of the car, officers found Sedat İ. injured, and confiscated the Kalashnikov rifle he was carrying by his side.
The victim, who was shot, had a long criminal record
Sedat İ., after receiving initial medical attention from medical staff who were called to the scene by the police, was taken by ambulance to a hospital in the Okmeydanı neighbourhood for treatment, although his life is not in danger. Police enquiries, however, revealed that the injured man and alleged victim has at least nine previous police records for various offences, including “drug use”, “intentional injury” and “vehicle theft”.
During the police inspection in the area of the shooting, 34 bullet casings were found, 30 of which were from the Kalashnikov used in the shootout prior to the chase. Mekin H. was taken to the police station; in his statement he confessed that he had arrived in Istanbul four days earlier and that he and another person he knew as Enes had been commissioned by someone nicknamed ‘Dayı’ – who had communicated with them via a messaging app – to kill Sedat İ. in exchange for the sum of 600,000 liras, about €12,000. Following this statement, the suspect was handed over to the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime.
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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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