Brutal killing of eight-year-old girl causes public outrage

ANKARA

The brutal killing of an eight-year-old girl has caused public outrage, prompting politicians to call for harsher punishment, including the reinstatement of the death penalty for such offenders.

Eylül Yağlıkara arrived in the Polatlı district of the capital Ankara with her parents and her two siblings from the western province of Bursa to spend the summer holiday.

The eight-year old girl went out to play with her friends on June 22 but never returned home.

When their efforts to find the girl failed, her parents informed the local gendarmerie of the situation. A number of soldiers, teams from the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and a special unit had been dispatched to the area. The search and rescue operation continued for seven days on the ground and from the air.

On June 30, the body of the girl was found buried under an electric pole.

Initial medical reports suggest she was tortured, sexually abused, and strangled to death.

Suspect joined search efforts

Some eyewitnesses told the police they saw Eylül riding a bicycle around at noon on June 22 and heading towards the home of Uğur Koçyiğit, the prime suspect in the case who is now under police custody.

According to media reports, after Eylül disappeared Koçyiğit visited her parents to console them and he even took part in the search operations.

The police searched Koçyiğit’s house and his car and found hair and blood. The hair and blood samples matched that of Eylül’s.

Koçyiğit, who is married and a father of three, denied the accusations.

He was arrested and sent to the Sincan Prison.

Detention processes are also underway for Koçyiğit’s wife, his mother, a woman, and another man, according to local media.

Officials have been interrogating Koçyiğit at the prison for seven days. However, he has refused to answer the questions.

Calls for harsher punishment for sex offenders

The brutal murder of Eylül has caused public outrage, prompting politicians to call for harsher punishment for such offenders.

Commenting on the killing of the eight-year-old girl, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on July 1 that “we will reconsider all measures including the introduction of chemical castration.”

“This was a brutal murder. The government has taken measures to prevent such murders. We will take further steps to introduce harsher sentences in the period ahead,” he told reporters.

Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has also reacted to the killing of Eylül.

“Eylül was not the only one murdered. Humanity has also been murdered, dreams have been murdered. I am really sad. We cannot go on like this. We have to do what is necessary: The death penalty, confinement, anything,” Bahçeli wrote on Twitter on June 30.