Allegation of lawmaker intervention in femicide case sparks controversy

ISTANBUL

The controversy continues regarding the allegations on the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) lawmaker of calling the father of a university student, who was killed in the Aegean province of Muğla last year and asking him to give up the criminal case.

Speaking to Milliyet daily, Sıddık Gültekin, father of Pınar Gültekin, a 27-year-old woman who was found dead last July in the province, repeated his claims that a CHP lawmaker called him and said, “leave the suspect’s family alone.”

Noting that he would reveal the name of the lawmaker who called him on the phone after the hearing to be held on Jan. 4, Gültekin stated that there was no request from the lawmaker to withdraw the case, contrary to the reports in the press.

“He didn’t tell me to ‘give up the case.’ He told me to ‘leave the family alone,’” Gültekin said in an interview.

“There is an old ‘blood revenge’ [practice] in the east and southeast [of Turkey]. It seems that he [CHP lawmaker] tried to be an intermediary because of his good intentions, but he messed up,” Gültekin said, adding that blood could not be cleansed with blood.

Meanwhile, CHP lawmaker Süleyman Girgin denied the allegations in the reports at a press conference, stating that he called the mourning father only for condolence.

“I have had only one call with the father [Gültekin] the day after the funeral. The recording of this phone call is one and a half minutes. I also offered my condolences there. I made no other calls,” Girgin said, adding that he thought the truth would surely come out.

“If any evidence, the slightest technical finding, the slightest hint of my involvement in the case arises, I undertake that I will resign not only from the CHP but also as the member of the parliament,” he added.

Pınar Gültekin had disappeared after leaving her home in Muğla on July 16. With mounting evidence against him, her former boyfriend Cemal Metin Avcı confessed that he had strangled her to death before burning her body and dumping it in a forest.

Avcı’s brother Mertcan Avcı was also arrested on Oct. 2 on charges of tampering with evidence for helping his brother to cover up his tracks after the crime.

The murder suspect faces aggravated life imprisonment while prosecutors are asking for up to five years in prison for the brother.