General who ‘caused female soldier to commit suicide’ arrested over failed coup attempt

Lt. Nazlıgül Daştanoğlu, 29, was suspended from the Turkish Air Force by Maj.-Gen. Mehmet Cahit Bakır due to “immorality and indiscipline” after divorcing her sergeant spouse, identified only as Arif, Doğan News Agency reported. She shot herself in the heart in a park on Nov. 7, 2012, in Kayseri. 

She was interrogated for 10 hours before being suspended and was faced with questions regarding her marriage, which ended on Dec. 10, 2010. 

“Why did you get married? Why did you get divorced? Why do you have the custody of your children?” Daştanoğlu was asked during the interrogation, according to what she told her family. 

“Why was Arif texting you? Why did you meet civilian teachers after the national security classes? Why are you putting on makeup?” the commanders also reportedly asked. 

Daştanoğlu allegedly received sexually explicit messages from a lieutenant, whose identity was kept secret, before she was suspended. 

Authorities decided not to pursue an investigation after Daştanoğlu’s suicide, but then-Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel assigned Lt.-Gen. Mustafa Özsoy to investigate the case upon the family’s demands.

Özsoy met the deceased’s mother, Nevin Daşdanoğlu, and father, Talip Daştanoğlu, and made examinations in the army headquarters, but no proceedings were subsequently launched. In addition, the Turkish Air Force’s Military Prosecutor’s Office chose not to prosecute the military personnel that her family had filed complaints against. 

Özsoy, along with Bakır, was detained in Dubai and suspended from the army in accordance with the second decree law published in the Official Gazette on July 27 as part of a recently declared state of emergency.

Nevin Daştanoğlu asked for the case to be reopened following what she claimed was a “cover-up.”

“They killed my pro-Atatürk, free-spirited, patriotic daughter by accusing her of immorality. Now the immoral ones have come to light. May God damn them,” she said, noting that her daughter was under constant pressure after starting to work in Kayseri. 

“They thought that my daughter was committing a crime by going out for walks, cycling, swimming and putting on makeup. It was a further crime when she talked to men. She was envied. She was an honest and hard-working soldier,” she added. 

“We complained about those who suspended my daughter from the army that she loved and caused her to commit suicide, but even an investigation wasn’t launched. Now we see that we complained about the FETÖ members to other FETÖ members,” she said. 

Daştanoğlu also said her daughter was confined to a room as punishment during her time in the army. 

“They kept punishing her. They were putting her in room confinement. They even complained about my daughter for dancing at an event that the military organized,” she added.