Turkish government has announced its decision to get involved in the Narin Güran murder case through the Ministry of Family and Social Services minister, Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, who has called the death of the eight-year-old girl – whose body was found last Sunday hidden in a river after being missing for 19 days – ‘atrocious’ and ‘unacceptable’. The crime has sparked a wave of outrage across the country over a crime in which the main suspects are the child’s uncle, mother and a brother.
‘Our aim is to ensure that tragedies like this do not happen again. As a ministry, we will intervene in the case. We will follow the entire legal process at the highest level, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that those responsible for Narin’s death receive the harshest possible sentences,’ the family and social services minister said in Ankara during an event titled Gazi Kadınlar Buluşması (Meeting of Women Veterans), quoted by several media outlets.
Göktaş stressed that any harm caused to a child constitutes both a legal and moral atrocity, an ‘unacceptable’ act she said, and announced that her ministry will provide continued psychological support to children living in the village of Tavşantepe (Diyarbakır), where the girl lived. ‘It is our collective human duty to ensure that children have a safe future and to raise them with love and care,’ said the minister, who confirmed that Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan is also personally following the case.
Why didn’t the government offer condolences to the family?
During another event with journalists, Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya was asked about why he did not offer his condolences to Narin’s family for the girl’s death, to which the minister replied that her family’s involvement in the crime was ‘quite clear’.
‘It is very clear, there is no need to explain anything else. It’s a situation where it’s obvious (that the family was involved in the murder) to anyone who reads the news and understands what happened. Do I need to explain it again?’ replied Yerlikaya. ‘I hope that we will never again face a situation (like this) that makes us ashamed as human beings,’ the minister added.
Visit to Narin’s grave
Also, Turkish media reported that the ministers of family, justice and interior – Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş, Yılmaz Tunç and Ali Yerlikaya – will visit today the grave of Narin Güran, who was buried on 9 September after an autopsy at the local cemetery in Tavşantepe. ‘Today, we will visit our girl’s grave in Diyarbakır,’ Minister Göktaş said from Ankara.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the murder of Narin Güran continues. Today one of the detainees, 48-year-old Nevzat B., reiterated in his statement to the judge that he carried the girl’s body to the river because Narin’s uncle, Salim Güran, forced him to do so, saying ‘I killed Arif’s (the girl’s father) daughter. Take this body and dispose of it. Otherwise I will kill you and your family’.
Just today it became known that Seda Toğrul, Salim Güran’s lawyer, has announced her decision to step aside from the case and resign from the defence of the detainee: ‘As a mother, I cannot continue with the defence. As a mother, I directly feel the pain of what happened to our child Narin. I will follow the case, but not as a lawyer, but as a mother and a citizen, and I hope that there will be a fair trial and that all the culprits will be punished,’ she said.
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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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