Prime Minister orders probe into murder of children by father
ANKARA
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım ordered on Jan. 6 an investigation to determine whether there was negligence on the part of public officials regarding the murder of two children by their father, which recently made the Turkish news headlines.
Four-year-old Elif and two-year-old Hira were killed by their father Ali Yardım on Jan. 2 in Istanbul’s Maltepe district. The mother Dilek Yardım, who was seeking divorce from Ali, said during the funeral on Jan. 4 that she had many times applied to the authorities to have a restraining order issued against her husband, but could not get one.
In line with the prime minister’s order, inspectors will determine when and which authorities Dilek Yardım applied to, and which procedures were undertaken by them. The inspectors will later submit their report to the prime minister.
If negligence is detected on the part of any public officials, the next step will be to launch investigations against the relevant officials.
Meanwhile, Turkish media outlets reported on Jan. 6 that Ali Yardım was in fact sentenced to 22 days in prison by a court order over domestic violence charges but did not serve any actual jail time as the authorities failed to send him a notification letter regarding the issue.
Dilek Yardım was reported to have filed a criminal complaint against Ali on Sept. 3, 2017 over allegedly receiving a verbal death threat. An Istanbul domestic relations court then issued a three-month long restraining order against Ali for Dilek’s safety, but only four days after the court’s decision was disclosed to Ali, this time he put a knife to Dilek’s throat and threatened her to “be his.”
Once Dilek Yardım notified the court of her husband’s action, the authorities sentenced Ali to seven days in prison. But, the husband violated the injunction once again, prompting the Istanbul Anatolian 17th Domestic Relations Court to sentence him to a total of 22 days in prison. However, the relevant court decision was never notified to Ali.
Dilek, who had been staying in women's shelters at the time, received a last phone call from Ali on Jan. 2. The husband reportedly told her: “I’ve killed your daughters, come and pick them up.”
After killing Hira and Elif by a shotgun, Ali Yardım committed suicide using the same gun.
