A 26-year-old woman remains in the ICU of an Istanbul hospital after being poisoned after drinking a coffee mistakenly prepared with detergent in a café in the Beyoğlu district: an incident which comes just days after the terrible case of the death of a family of tourists, for which investigators are considering food poisoning as one of the hypotheses for the death.
The incident occurred two days ago at around 1.00 p.m. The young woman, an engineer identified as Ayben Özçilingir Turtura, collapsed after taking the first sip of the drink she had ordered at a café in the Ömer Avni neighbourhood. According to the investigation, the coffee was made with industrial dishwasher detergent stored in used bottles in the kitchen, rather than with water.
Turkish broadcaster NTV reported that, as soon as she took her first sip, the young woman suddenly felt sick, ran to the restroom and began to suffer from difficulty breathing and numbness of the tongue. She was rushed to Taksim Hospital, where doctors found severe chemical burns to her throat, oesophagus, trachea, stomach and lungs, with suspicion of exposure to sodium hydroxide, a powerful caustic substance. After initial care, she was referred to another facility and intubated in the ICU.
The coffee was made with detergent instead of water
Istanbul provincial health director Abdullah Emre Güner explained what happened in a message on social media: “On 17 November 2025, a patient with the initials A.Ö.T. came to the emergency department of our Taksim Training and Research Hospital complaining of symptoms of swelling of the tongue, shortness of breath and epigastric pain that developed after drinking coffee in a local café. During the treatment and intervention process, suspicion of ingestion of a caustic substance arose, and the patient was referred to another hospital for emergency endoscopy.”
“The endoscopy revealed hyperemia in the patient’s stomach and oesophagus. After the procedure, the patient was intubated due to respiratory oedema and was monitored in the intensive care unit. Our patient’s general condition is improving today, she is being progressively weaned from respiratory support and continues to be observed and treated in intensive care,” Güner added.
The investigation, carried out by teams from the Beyoğlu Public Security Brigade, determined that the father of the business owner, identified as E.Ö. (aged 52), had filled the bottles used in the kitchen with dishwasher detergent. M.A., 50 years old, the person who prepared the coffee, had mistakenly used one of the bottles with detergent to make the drink served to the young woman.
As part of the investigation into the incident, statements were taken from E.Ö. and the other owner of the café, G.S.Ö. (26), while M.A. – the person who prepared the coffee in the kitchen – and the owner S.N.Ö. (28), who was present in the café at the time of the incident, were referred to an Istanbul court as ‘suspects’ after the relevant procedures at the police station. In accordance with the prosecutor’s request, the judge imposed a travel ban on M.A. and S.N.Ö. and ordered their house arrest. As for the café where the poisoning took place, it was closed down by the security forces while the investigation continues.
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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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