Turkish authorities have detained 24 people including the family members of an 8-year-old girl who went missing in southeast Turkey last month and was found dead on Sunday after a days-long search, a development that sparked protests across several provinces.
The body of Narin Güran was found in a sack in a river in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, around one kilometer from the village where she lived with her family, Diyarbakır Governor Murat Zorluoğlu announced on Sunday.
“The lifeless body of Narin, who went missing in the village of Tavşantepe … has been found,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X.
She disappeared on August 21, sparking an exhaustive effort in the area, with a number of well-known figures joining a social media campaign called “Find Narin.”
“Narin Güran was found dead wearing the same clothes as the last time she was seen,” said Zorluoğlu.
“Based on first observations, she was put into a sack after she was killed. The sack was then put in the river, hidden under branches and rocks so as not to raise suspicion,” he added.
Diyarbakır prosecutors have detained 24 people including Narin’s parents and her eldest brother, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced on Monday.
“All details are being pursued to shed light on this painful incident and reveal the truth,” Tunç tweeted.
The girl’s uncle, Salim Güran, also the mukhtar of the village, was arrested last week on suspicion of murder and deprivation of liberty after DNA samples taken from his car matched DNA samples taken from the girl’s clothes.
The murder of Narin has been condemned by politicians from all political parties who demanded justice for the little girl.
“We are profoundly hurt by the sad news about Narin, who was brutally killed,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on X.
“I will personally follow the judicial process to ensure that those who took Narin away from us receive the harsh punishment they deserve,” he added.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which called for a march in Diyarbakır on Sunday evening, also called for justice.
“Narin’s murder was due to failure on the part of many people. Those responsible for this murder, which has saddened us all, must be exposed and held accountable before an impartial and independent justice system,” the DEM Party tweeted.
The murder of Narin and the authorities’ failure to locate her body for 19 days has led to criticism and raised suspicions about a coverup of the murder.
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Diyarbakır lawmaker Galip Ensarioğlu sparked a backlash on social media when he said, following the discovery of the girl’s body, that the Güran family is a friend of his and that he wants to avoid things that will further hurt them.
“There’s a gag order on the investigation. We are in the final stages [of resolving it]. Sometimes there are things that we don’t know or that we know but should not say,” Ensarioğlu said in televised remarks on Sunday that brought him much criticism for allegedly taking sides with the family despite their alleged role in the murder.
Protestors call for justice for Narin
Thousands of people took to the streets of Diyarbakır, İstanbul and several other cities on Sunday demanding justice for the little girl.
In İstanbul’s Kadıköy district, where a demonstration was organized by the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, police detained three female protestors who resisted the police checking of IDs.
A statement made on behalf of the platform during the protest accused the AKP government of paving the way for the murder of women and young girls due to its policies prioritizing family and family values.
“As you have talked more about family, murders have turned into massacres. We will not leave the women and children to the mercy of the families, the government or the ministers,” the platform said in its statement.
Protestors carried banners that read, “We will not leave Narin’s murder unresolved” and “Stop child abuse.”
In Diyarbakır, thousands of people marched to demand justice for Narin. The city’s co-mayors from the DEM Party, DEM Party lawmakers and Başak Demirtaş, the wife of jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş, were among the participants of the march.
Narin laid to rest after autopsy
Narin was laid to rest on Monday in her village where she went missing after an autopsy was conducted on Sunday at the Diyarbakır Council of Forensic Medicine.
Justice Minister Tunç said on X on Monday that the exact cause of the little girl’s death will be determined after an examination of tissue taken from her body. He said some of the samples were sent to the İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine for a more thorough examination.
Meanwhile, according to the preliminary autopsy results, which were reported to the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the cause of Narin Güran’s death remains unclear. There were no signs of injury caused by a knife or gun and no signs of internal bleeding. The lower part of the girl’s left leg was disconnected from her body, according to the preliminary autopsy results.
The prosecutor’s office said that 91 samples were taken from the girl’s body and that their examination will reveal the exact cause of her death including whether she was subjected to sexual abuse.
Detainee points to uncle
In the meantime, Turkish media outlets reported on Monday that one of the detainees, identified as N.B., told prosecutors that the mukhtar gave him the sack that contained Narin’s body and asked him to get rid of it and that he took the sack to the river.
N.B. said in his testimony that the uncle offered him TL 200,000 (around $6,000) in return for his assistance in getting rid of the body.
N.B. also said he understood it was the missing girl’s body and regretted later having accepted his offer but had to remove the body.
It was the first statement that pointed to the uncle’s role in the murder.
The arrest of the uncle before the discovery of the girl’s body had attracted criticism from jurists due to lack of sufficient evidence against him.