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A murder trial related to the death of an 8-year-old girl whose body was found 19 days after she went missing in August in southeastern Turkey began on Thursday, with a suspect claiming the child was killed by her uncle because she could expose an affair between him and her mother, Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service (DW Türkçe) reported.
The disappearance of Narin Güran and the discovery of her body days later made headlines in Turkey, with many details of the murder, including its motivation, still unclear.
Güran’s body was found on September 8 in a sack in a river in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, about one kilometer from the village of Tavşantepe, where she lived with her family.
The girl’s uncle, Salim Güran, also the mukhtar of the village, was arrested on September 3 on suspicion of deprivation of liberty and murder after DNA samples taken from his car matched DNA on the girl’s clothes.
Nevzat Bahtiyar was also arrested after confessing to the disposal of Narin’s body for Salim Güran in exchange for TL 200,000 (around $6,000). Bahtiyar later changed his statement, claiming that he was forced to do it due to threats from the mukhtar.
On Thursday, in the first hearing of the trial, held at Diyarbakır’s 8th High Criminal Court, Bahtiyar claimed that Salim Güran killed Narin after she witnessed an affair between him and her mother, Yüksel Güran.
“I entered the house and went to a room where I saw Narin lying down. He [Salim Güran] told me about the situation, saying that it was because he was having an affair with her mother,” Bahtiyar said.
He quoted the uncle as saying, “I was having intercourse [with Narin’s mother], Narin saw it and we killed her.”
Aydın Özdemir, a lawyer from the Diyarbakır Bar Association whose request to join the case was accepted by the court during the hearing, asked Bahtiyar, “Did you strangle Narin?”
“No, Salim strangled her, he admitted it himself,” Bahtiyar responded, according to DW.
An İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine report revealed in September that Narin was strangled to death on the day of her disappearance. The forensic report said the little girl died due to a lack of oxygen after her mouth and nose were covered and pressure was exerted on her neck.
Arif Güran, the father of the victim, felt unwell during Bahtiyar’s testimony and was escorted out of the courtroom by the police.
Arif Güran told journalist Rojda Altıntaş on Wednesday that security camera footage from a location 700 meters from his house had not been included in the indictment. He added that he would begin a hunger strike in front of parliament if such concrete evidence is not added to the case.
Narin’s mother Yüksel, her brother Enes, her uncle Salim and Bahtiyar are facing aggravated life sentences for “collaboration in the premeditated murder of a child.”
Enes also told the judge on Thursday that he was tortured during his interrogation when asked about Salim Güran. He added that the gendarmerie also showed him footage of the torture of his mother, Yüksel Güran. He further stated that he is currently being held in
solitary confinement and that his family is unaware of his situation.
Among those present at Thursday’s hearing were Sezgin Tanrıkulu, an MP for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) from Diyarbakır, members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) and Gülsüm Kav from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform as well as lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Free Cause Party (HÜDA-PAR).
The murder of Narin and the authorities’ failure to locate her body for 19 days have led to criticism and raised suspicions about a coverup of the murder.
AKP Diyarbakır lawmaker Galip Ensarioğlu sparked a backlash on social media when he said, following the discovery of the girl’s body, that members of the Güran family were friends of his and that he wanted to avoid things that would hurt them further.