Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) has said preliminary findings show that a German-Turkish family who fell ill at an İstanbul hotel most likely died from chemical exposure inside the property, in what has become one of the country’s most closely watched poisoning investigations, the state-run TRT Haber reported on Tuesday.
The family’s father on Monday became the fourth member of the family to die since last week. Servet Böcek died on Monday evening after six days in intensive care.
His wife, Çiğdem, and their two children, Kadir Muhammet and Masal, had died last week despite medical intervention.
The family was admitted to a hospital on November 12 with severe nausea and vomiting while staying at a hotel in the Fatih district. They had arrived in İstanbul on November 9 from Hamburg for a holiday.
In a statement dated Monday, the ATK said early assessments point primarily to toxic chemical exposure inside the hotel.
“Considering the circumstances of the incident, the family’s medical history, the most recent information obtained and the fact that two more people from the same hotel are being treated in the hospital with similar symptoms, it is believed that the mother and children most likely died from A. chemical substance poisoning originating from the hotel environment, and, less likely, B. food poisoning related to what they consumed,” the statement said.
The council said the definitive cause of death will be determined after pathological, microbiological and toxicological analyses of samples collected during the autopsies.
The Böcek family had eaten several popular street food dishes in the waterside neighborhood of Ortaköy on November 11 and sought medical help the following day.
An ambulance returned to the Fatih hotel in the early hours of November 13 after the mother reported worsening symptoms. The two children died later that day; the mother died on November 14.
İstanbul Health Director Abdullah Emre Güner said in a statement on X on Monday evening that all efforts to save the father also failed. “We offer our condolences to the family. The investigation is continuing carefully,” he said.
Focus shifted to hotel after pesticide treatment
Although food poisoning was initially considered, suspicion shifted to the hotel after prosecutors said pest control chemicals had been sprayed inside the building on the evening of November 11.
Police confirmed that a pesticide treatment had recently been carried out and that teams from the Istanbul Health Directorate and the Fatih District Agriculture Directorate had inspected the property and collected samples.
According to the DHA news agency, officials were examining documentation related to the chemicals used, and early findings suggested some substances may include agricultural chemicals harmful to humans.
Two tourists from same hotel also fell ill
Concern grew over the weekend when two tourists staying at the same hotel were hospitalized with nausea and vomiting. A third person staying in their room was admitted for tests due to a low heart rate. Authorities evacuated and sealed the hotel as a precaution.
Health officials said the two tourists were treated and were not in critical condition.
Detentions and arrests as investigation expands
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating the suspicious deaths, said police detained 11 people over the weekend and on Monday, including two hotel employees and the owner of the company that conducted pest control at the hotel.
Four others — a mussel vendor, a café owner, a kokoreç seller and a Turkish delight vendor — were arrested by a criminal court and sent to jail pending trial later on Monday.
The tragedy of the Böcek family, who held German citizenship, has received extensive coverage in the German press, prompting heightened public and diplomatic attention and sparking a debate about how safe a holiday in Turkey is.
Turkish authorities say the exact cause of the deaths will be determined once forensic analyses are completed, a process expected to take several weeks.