Missing 8-year-old child’s dead body found after 19 days in Turkey’s Diyarbakır
The dead body of 8-year-old Narin Güran, who has been missing for 19 days in rural Diyarbakır of southeastern Turkey, was found ditched into a stream north of her village in a sack with stones in it.
Duvar English
Turkish authorities on Sept. 8 found the dead body of eight-year-old Narin Güran near her village in the Diyarbakır province of southeastern Turkey. She went missing on Aug. 21 after leaving a Quran course.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Sept. 8 that gendarmerie forces found the dead body of Güran.
“After the missing Narin Güran was murdered, she was put in a sack and brought to a stream. It was covered with tree branches and stones so as not to arouse suspicion,” Diyarbakır Governor Murat Zorluoğlu announced in a press release.
The same spot had been searched at least three times before and a pink slipper had been found. However, her family had claimed that the slipper did not belong to Güran.
All entrances to and exits from the Tavşantepe village has been banned.
"Those responsible for the death of our Narin will be held accountable before justice," Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said.
Güran left home on Aug. 21 to attend a Quran course but did not return home afterward. She was reported missing the same evening, and local and national rescue teams including the gendarmerie, commando, tracker dogs, and underwater search teams were dispatched to the Tavşantepe village.
Around 2,000 personnel joined in the search efforts in 19 days.
Her uncle and the village head (“mukhtar”) Salim Güran was previously arrested in line with Narin Güran’s disappearance. The teams determined that the DNA samples taken from uncle Güran's vehicle matched the DNA samples on Narin Güran's clothes.
After her dead body was found on Sept. 8, 21 people from the village, including family members, were detained.
The incident previously stirred a nationwide reaction as authorities were unable to find Güran for two weeks.