Court arrests mother, brother in murder case of girl in Türkiye’s southeast

DIYARBAKIR

In a new development regarding the murder of Narin Güran, a court in Diyarbakır has arrested eight individuals, including the mother, brother and uncle of the 8-year-old girl.

The murder of Güran, whose body was found on Sept. 8 after weeks of search efforts, has sparked public outrage, as suspicion centers around her family members.

While one uncle was arrested by the court on Sept. 13, another uncle had already been in custody for nearly a week and remains the primary suspect in the case.

The court charged the mother and brother with "complicity in premeditated murder," while other family members were imprisoned on charges of evidence tampering.

Meanwhile, 10 individuals, including Güran’s father, were released by the prosecutor’s office. Both the mother and brother denied all accusations in their statements.

Although the case remains unsolved, several media outlets, citing police sources, reported that the family was the prime suspect in the murder, with uninvolved family members and villagers accused of obstructing justice by hiding evidence.

Salim Güran, the uncle, was arrested on Sept. 2 and charged with "murder with probable intent and deprivation of liberty" after DNA evidence linked him to the case. Nevzat Bahtiyar, who confessed to laying Narin's body in the stream bed, was arrested on charges of “intentional killing with participation” and sent to prison on Sept. 10, bringing the total number of detainees to 10. Media reports said the cause of Narin's death remains unconfirmed due to the state of her body. There were no signs of cutting, piercing or gunshot wounds, nor any internal bleeding.

The head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association stated that the autopsy revealed no DNA belonging to another individual on the girl’s body.