Turkey’s Justice Ministry is seeking an INTERPOL Red Notice for a 17-year-old suspect, identified only as T.C., who was involved in a traffic accident in İstanbul in March that left one dead and four injured, and his mother, writer Eylem Tok, the state-run Anadolu agency reported on Thursday.
Tok and her 17-year-old son, who was driving the car involved in the accident that resulted in the death of Oğuz Murat Aci and the injury of four other people, flew to Egypt together on the night of the accident, March 1. Tok and her son then went to the United States.
Ayşe Ceren A., who allegedly drove the car that took Eylem Tok and her son T.C. to the İstanbul airport, was detained and subsequently arrested.
Tok and T.C., who are also US citizens according to Turkish media reports, were initially spotted in mid-March by Gözde G., a Turkish New Yorker, walking on the corner of 6th Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan.
Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç tweeted in early March that Ankara had submitted an extradition request to US authorities for Tok and her son.
However, the legal process to extradite the teenager and his mother to Turkey could take several years, according to reports citing the minister and legal experts in New York. The process involves several stages and depends on various legal criteria, including the seriousness of the alleged crime and the submission of comprehensive evidence by Turkey to the US authorities.
T.C.’s father, Bülent Cihantimur, gave a statement to the authorities as part of the ongoing investigation into the accident. He expressed regret over the incident and pledged support for the victim’s family. He also said he hoped his son would return to Turkey to stand trial. The prosecutor asked the court to put Cihantimur under judicial supervision because it’s suspected that he helped his son and ex-wife flee the country.
According to Anadolu, the request for the Red Notice for Tok and her son was submitted to the Justice Ministry by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the case.
According to the Turkish media, the accident occurred on March 1, when Acı and his friends, who were riding quad bikes, stopped on the shoulder due to a mechanical problem. While attempting to warn oncoming traffic, Acı was fatally struck by a car driven by T.C., Tok’s underage son, who did not have a driver’s license.
T.C. called his mother and asked for help. Tok rushed to the scene of the accident, put her son in her own car and drove away.
Instead of helping the victims, Tok is accused of spiriting her son away from the scene, leaving the injured and the deceased behind.