This morning, in the province of Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey, the new trial began against Nevzat Bahtiyar, who was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for concealing the victim’s body in the case of the horrific murder of 8-year-old Narin Güran; the new trial, which took place amid an atmosphere of great tension, follows the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals (Yargıtay) overturning the previous sentence on the grounds that the defendant should be tried for complicity in premeditated murder, and not merely for the offence of “destroying or concealing evidence”.
The lifeless body of Narin Güran, who was reported missing on 21 August 2024 in the village of Tavşantepe, in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır, was found on 8 September following 19 days of intensive search efforts. The body was found stuffed inside a sack in the bed of a stream, covered with three stones weighing 30, 25 and 20 kilograms, and hidden amongst some bushes.
In the case, Narin’s uncle, Salim Güran; her mother, Yüksel Güran; and her older brother, Enes Güran; as well as Nevzat Bahtiyar himself – a villager who worked for Salim – were charged with being accomplices to the murder of a minor, for which the prosecution sought the sentence of aggravated life imprisonment (without the possibility of parole) for all of them.
In his initial statement following his arrest, Bahtiyar claimed that he did not kill Narin, but that he merely carried her lifeless body to the stream and hid it. Finally, the trial took place months later and, at the second hearing of the case held on 28 December 2024, the court handed down a sentence for the murder, sentencing Salim, Yüksel and Enes Güran to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for the crime, whilst Bahtiyar was sentenced to only 4 years and 6 months’ imprisonment for “destroying, concealing or tampering with evidence”.
The verdict for the brutal crime was appealed
The defendants’ lawyers, as well as the legal representatives of the girl’s father, Arif Güran, the Ministry of Family and Social Services – which joined the case – and the Diyarbakır Bar Association – which acted as a private prosecutor – appealed the decision.
The case, referred by the 8th High Criminal Court of Diyarbakır to Criminal Chamber No. 1 of the Provincial Court of Appeal, was resolved on 26 May 2025 with a ruling that confirmed by majority the sentences imposed on the four defendants, although the presiding judge issued a dissenting opinion, considering that various pieces of evidence – including CCTV footage, mobile phone tower records, DNA analysis and hair samples – had not been fully examined.
Subsequently, the case was referred to the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals (Yargıtay), which, in a judgment issued on 29 December 2025, upheld the sentences of aggravated life imprisonment imposed on Salim, Yüksel and Enes Güran; the court, however, unanimously decided to quash the sentence of 4 years and 6 months handed down against Bahtiyar for tampering with evidence, concluding that his actions should be judged as “complicity in premeditated murder”, and thus ordered a retrial.
Shouts from the family during the trial
In accordance with this ruling, the retrial against Bahtiyar began today at the 8th High Criminal Court in Diyarbakır. The defendant – who is currently imprisoned at the high-security prison No. 1 in Suluca, in the province of Adana – was transferred amidst significant security measures. The hearing was attended by his lawyers, Adnan Ataş and Ali Eryılmaz, as well as members of the Güran family alongside their legal representatives, and lawyers from the Ministry of Family and Social Services, according to the Turkish news agency DHA.
During his statement to the court, Bahtiyar stated that “Salim (the girl’s uncle) called out to me from about 50–70 metres away. I went up towards Arif’s house (Narin’s father). I climbed the hill. Then I went and saw the body on the ground. When I entered Arif’s house, I saw Narin’s body on the left-hand side of the entrance. Salim told me: ‘You will take the body.’ I refused. Then he pulled out a gun and threatened me and my son. He said, ‘First I will kill your son and then you,’ so I was forced to take the body. We both put the body in a blanket. He wrapped the body with me as we went towards the door, up to the balcony. Then I left on my own…”.
“I took the body to the barn. There I put it in a bag. After putting it in the car, I saw Yüksel (Narin’s mother) crying in front of her house. Before getting into the car, Salim took the blanket from me and said: ‘Take this body and cut it into pieces so that no one sees it’. I uncovered the body. If I’d done what Salim told me, this body wouldn’t have been found. I did something good,” added the defendant. When asked which of all the accounts he had given to date was true, he replied: “In my first statement I said that because my family wasn’t safe. But now my family is safe. The statement I’m giving now is the true one.”
Following these words, Arif Güran and other relatives present in the courtroom reacted with outrage towards the defendant. As tensions rose, the judge ordered Narin Güran’s relatives to be removed from the courtroom; as they were being escorted out, they shouted “Paedophile murderer!” at Bahtiyar. The girl’s brother, Baran Güran, who was escorted out of the court, also reacted with outrage, shouting to the media outside: “Do people still believe this man? He changes his statement eight times and everyone believes him. All the members of (Narin’s) family have a single statement, and this man is giving his eighth statement. How can anyone believe someone who lies eight times? He says something different every time, how is this possible?”.
Following these moments of tension and once Bahtiyar’s statement to the court had concluded, Narin Güran’s father, Arif Güran, took the floor and demanded during the trial that those truly responsible for his daughter’s assassination be brought to justice. For her part, his lawyer, Ezgi İpek, argued that the investigation was conducted poorly: “I believe that the girl was murdered after being abused with 99% certainty. The likelihood of murder following abuse is high. A forensic report should have been obtained on this matter, but it was not. The investigation was botched.”
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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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