The investigation into the murder of Narin Güran, the 8-year-old girl found missing for 19 days in a river in Diyarbakır province in southeastern Turkey, continues. As the forensic examination of the body is being completed, new details are emerging about the investigation into the crime, for which police investigators are considering 4 possible scenarios.
Narin, who had disappeared on 21 August while returning from a religious class, was buried yesterday in the local cemetery of her village of Tavşantepe, after she was found on 8 September stuffed in a sack and hidden under branches and stones in a river just a kilometre and a half from her home, still wearing the clothes she was wearing on the day of her disappearance.
Turkish press confirms that after a preliminary autopsy carried out in Diyarbakır by a team of 14 forensic experts, which lasted 11 hours, no bullet or knife wounds were found on the girl’s body, which was highly decomposed due to the time spent in the water; nor was it possible to determine the exact time of death.
Up to 91 samples taken from the body were sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Istanbul for further tests that are expected to shed more light on the date and cause of death. Following the preliminary autopsy, the girl’s body was handed over to one of Narin’s brothers, who fainted during the funeral due to emotion.
New clues about who hid the girl’s body
Security forces have so far arrested 24 people, including the girl’s parents, two of her older brothers (one of whom had already been arrested at the beginning of the investigation), two uncles and the wife of Salim Güran, a third uncle of the girl who was arrested already on 2 September and who so far is the main suspect and the only one who remains in prison, as traces of Narin’s DNA were found in his car and he has not been able to offer a credible alibi as to what he did on the day of the girl’s disappearance.
Another person arrested is Nevzat B., whose car was recorded by security cameras in an area near the Eğertutmaz River – where the girl’s body was found – only 25 minutes after Narin’s disappearance. Upon interrogation, Nevzat B. admitted to having hidden the girl’s body in the river, accusing Salim Güran, the village headman (muhtar) and the girl’s uncle, who according to Nevzat B.’s version had given him the girl’s body in a sack to dispose of it, threatening him with a weapon if he refused to do so.
However, other witnesses who were friends with Nevzat B. are said to have testified that the detainee did not act under threat but out of self-interest, asking Salim in exchange for hiding the body the payment of 200,000 liras (about 5,300 euros) and the granting of a licence for an electrical installation.
The 4 hypotheses about Narin’s death
Preliminary police reports confirm that Narin was murdered, stuffed into a sack and then dumped in the river. It is hoped that once tests are carried out at a more advanced laboratory in Istanbul, it will be possible to determine exactly how Narin died, as well as whether there were other crimes, including sexual abuse. The examination of the bones in Istanbul will also shed light on why the girl’s body had a break in the left leg at the knee (some sources claim that the leg was even torn off).
Meanwhile, Turkish media say that the police are working on up to four possible scenarios as to what led to Narin’s death:
Scenario 1:
Narin was murdered after being sexually abused in her family environment, a possibility that several media outlets are considering and which is expected to be clarified in the final autopsy report.
Scenario 2:
Sources claim that Narin’s uncle, Salim Güran, and the girl’s father, Arif Güran, had a long-standing dispute over a land valued at around 50 million liras (1.3 million euros). According to these sources, as a result of this dispute Salim allegedly promised Arif to make him ‘experience such pain that you will never forget in your life’, according to a report that is part of the investigation.
Scenario 3:
Another possibility would be that Narin was killed after seeing something she shouldn’t have, which the killer feared she would tell others. In particular, Narin’s mother commented on a television show that the girl had caught her older brother – who was arrested during the search – taking prohibited substances and even abusing an animal.
Scenario 4:
During interrogations after her arrest, one of the questions asked to Narin’s uncle, Salim Güran, was whether the girl was in fact his daughter, the result of an extramarital affair with her mother. Salim denied this accusation to the police, who raised this hypothesis suspecting that the little girl might have been murdered to hide the relationship. However, several media outlets claim that DNA tests have confirmed that Narin Güran’s father, Arif, is in fact her real biological father, ruling out the uncle’s paternity.
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As a history lover, Pablo Gómez was captivated by Turkey from the first day he visited it in 2006: he got married there, has a house there… and has since become an expert on Turkey’s current affairs. With a long experience in media, he has been at the helm of hispanatolia.com since 2011.
