By Nazlan Ertan

For the past week, many Turks have been uneasily following the unfolding of the murder of an eight-year-old girl at a southeastern village and its tangle of feudal ties, political influence and an unholy conspiracy of silence that may well belong to an Almodovar film.

Tavşantepe, a small village in Diyarbakır, crept into the headlines as the scene of the brutal murder of Narin Güran, who disappeared after attending a Quranic lesson on Aug. 21.

Nineteen days — and three searches with sniffer dogs, underwater divers and thousands of vehicles — later, her lifeless body was found a mere two kilometers from her home, in a sack concealed under rocks and twigs on the banks of the Eğertutmaz River. On Sept. 12, as we put the newsletter to bed, 22 people - mostly the girl’s family members- were arrested and her uncle, accused of slaying her, was placed at Diyarbakir prison.

There have been many allegations and much leaked testimony, but little verifiable information, particularly during the 12-day news blackout imposed on the case between Aug. 29 and Sept. 9. (The judicial process is under secrecy but several journalists were able to reach the testimonies).

CONFUSING CLAIMS

It took days for the police to determine who had last seen the girl, leading to claims that the tight-knit community was seeking to protect her powerful family by claiming to see her even after she was dead. Following the detention of her brother on Aug. 29 and her uncle on Aug. 31, some journalists and activists floated the idea of rape or an incestuous relationship, after which the child was “silenced” to avoid family scandal. 

Some jurists recalled a similar case in the eastern town of Ağrı in 2018, when four-year-old Leyla Aydemir, whose lifeless body was found on a riverbank, was killed by her uncle. Turkey has a bad reputation for child abuse, incest, forced early marriages, and female suicides. In the first seven months of 2024, at least 23 children have died from domestic or gender-related abuse. Despite the absence of comprehensive and reliable data on the sexual abuse of children, Justice Ministry statistics and NGOs show an increase in reported child sexual abuse cases.

In Tavşantepe, allegations changed direction after the discovery of her body on Sept. 8 and various leaked reports that there had been no trace of abuse found on the eight-year-old’s body. According to an unnamed but “highly reliable” source quoted by Show TV’s Didem Arslan Yılmaz, Salim Güran, the girl’s uncle and the head of the village, was in an illicit relationship with the girl’s mother and Narin, who discovered them when she returned from her Quran courses, was “silenced” by the uncle. Some local sources claimed that the murder took place with the knowledge of some family members, even including Narin’s mother and Güran’s wife. Some family members deleted their WhatsApp messages - another pointer that the family knew. The police questioned the uncle on Aug. 31 and asked him whether he was Narin’s biological father, which he denied.

Güran, an authority figure in the village, was arrested for homicide on Sept. 12, after the DNA samples in his car matched that of his missing niece. His lawyer Seda Toğrul claimed the DNA match was inconclusive. Toğrul explained that she had known her client for 14 years and was sure of his innocence. “I would not have undertaken his defense otherwise,” she said. 

FIGHTING THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

The case has outraged many Turks, particularly rights groups, which demanded a thorough investigation and swift justice. 

We Will Stop Femicides Platform Secretary General Fidan Ataselim said that the deaths of girls and women were the direct result of a state policy which fails to protect them and instead works to cover up any incident that contradicts their notion of “sacred and protective families.”

Protest marches occurred in Istanbul and Diyarbakır, where participants accused the community and the central government of attempting to bury the case. Many pointed an accusing finger at Galip Ensarioğlu, the ruling AKP’s Diyarbakır deputy, who said that “some things should remain unsaid” to protect the innocent members of the family who were “friends.” Others said that the family — indeed the whole community — were supporters of Hüda-Par and/or Hizbullah, a violent group that waged a bloody war against the PKK, (See more on Hüda-Par further up in the newsletter) and had immunity because they collectively voted for the ruling bloc. 

Journalists who arrived in the small village reported difficulty talking to people who feared offending the powerful Güran family. “The feudal structure in the village is reminiscent of 1960s films” (which usually depicted rural settlements under the thumb of a cruel muhtar, or village head), journalist Emrullah Erdinç told Sözcü TV. “The rules of feudality are stronger than national law for the simple reason that while the presence of the state is felt only occasionally, the feudal power — in this case, the Güran family — is dominant in every aspect of village life.” 

Some journalists reported rumors that Narin’s older sister had died under curious circumstances in 2019. “I have been hearing reports that there have been suspicious deaths or suicide attempts in the family in the past, too,” said Sezgin Tanrıkulu, an opposition lawmaker who once headed the Diyarbakır Bar and worked intensely to prevent “honor killings” in Diyarbakır and the region. “While the Narin case has priority, I expect the Diyarbakır prosecutor’s office to shed light on these claims, too.” 

ERDOĞAN INTERVENES

Despite the conspiracy of silence, the circle around Salim Güran tightened, particularly after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged on Sept. 8 to personally follow the case. While the president expressed his sorrow over the events, neither he - nor his wife and his ministers - expressed condolences to the family, indicating that Ankara thought that the family was involved in the killing.

Nevzat Bahtiyar, a village man, testified that Salim Güran paid him 200,000TL ($5,800) to get rid of the body and threatened to kill his family if he did not. Bahtiyar confessed that he had taken the body from Güran’s car and placed it in a sack that he dumped from the riverbank, hoping the body would rot underwater and any evidence would be lost. Bahtiyar claimed later that Güran had been having an affair with his sister-in-law and might have killed the girl who had seen them having sex at the barn. “The barn was on her path from the Quranic courses,” he said, according to the Turkish press.

Shortly after the confession, Güran’s lawyer Toğrul announced her withdrawal from the defense because she found the case difficult “as a mother.” On Sept. 11, Güran was removed from his post as the village head.

Even Ensarioğlu backpedaled from his earlier remarks, claiming that he was “misquoted” and that he thought Narin was killed by her uncle because she saw “something she should not.”

Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced the investigation of 24 suspects, including the mother, brother and the village imam, who was also a member of the family but released shortly, was continuing. Bahtiyar was also arrested. Tunç also said that detailed results from the autopsy would take time. Four ministers also went to the village to investigate the case a day after the main opposition CHP.

THE COFFIN AND THE VEIL

The burial of Narin created another stir. The family had chosen to put a bridal veil over the coffin of the little girl, which angered the critics of child marriages. “That is the sad mentality for the girls in this region,” lamented journalist Özlem Gürses. “Either the veil or the grave.”

BLAME IT ON EXTERNAL FORCES (YES, REALLY)

In a last minute development on Sept. 12, the Güran family made a collective statement bitterly complaining of fake news and character assassination after Narin’s death. The family accused the press of ignoring their sorrow and launching a steady character assassination against their family whose roots date back centuries. “We cannot imagine killing our own daughters. Yet, even this has happened, blaming a whole family is … an attempt of the external forces and their local lackeys … who are aware of the strategic importance of Diyarbakır,” the statement said. 

Wow, what a strange choice of words!

Fighting Words: Sorry, not sorry

My first column for Turkey in Depth is an act of irony: Erospolis, which will focus on the funny, the absurd and the outrageous side of Turkey, takes up a true tragedy, the Narin Güran case. Moreover, Fighting Words, which aims to bring you the verbal swordplay of the week among Turkey’s sharp-tongued politicians, starts with a reconciliation effort. 

Özgur Özel, tongue-lashed by President Erdogan for receiving Dilruba Kayserioğlu (the young woman who called AKP voters “brain-dead idiots” and went to jail for it) at the protocol section of the International Izmir Fair, apologized. “I apologize to everyone who felt slighted by her remarks,” Özel said. “Now it is Erdogan’s turn.”

Erdogan has referred to the opposition voters as “house negroes,” “lesbians-schmesbians,” and “rotten” - among many other things.