Turkish gendarmerie consults 'soothsayer' to locate murdered girl

It was revealed that Turkish gendarmerie officers consulted a “soothsayer” to locate murdered 8-year-old Narin Güran, whose body was found 19 days after she went missing in late August.

Tuesday October 29 2024 10:16 pm

Duvar English

It has been documented in the investigation of 8-year-old Narin Güran, whose body was found 19 days after she went missing in Diyarbakır's Bağlar district, that gendarmerie officers consulted a “soothsayer” in the early days of her disappearance to locate her.

Deutsche Welle Turkish obtained the minutes of the “consultation session” from the ongoing investigation into the child’s murder that resulted in the arrest of nearly her entire immediate family except the father.

Narin cinayetinde çarpıcı belge

Jandarma görevlilerinin kayıp olarak arandığı dönemde Narin Güran'ın yerini tespit etmek için "üfürükçüye" gittiği ortaya çıktı

Jandarmanın "üfürükçü" tutanağı dava dosyasına girdi pic.twitter.com/Qc3koMkKwb
— DW Türkçe (@dw_turkce) October 29, 2024

According to the report, officers from the Gendarmerie Crime Investigation Team (JASAT) consulted a "soothsayer" on the 7th day of Narin’s disappearance. Two gendarmerie officers, a village head, and a watchman also documented the meeting by keeping minutes.

The document also included a JASAT officer's account of the event, “A headman said there was a religious figure in central Diyarbakır who could find missing persons through spiritual readings. I informed my commanders, and we went to the address. When the hoca (soothsayer) performed the reading, Narin’s brother began to mutter incoherently and describe a location. When it was the mother’s turn, my commander called for me, so I left the place.”

Narin’s later arrested uncle contacted the gendarmerie officer, sharing the address that the brother had muttered at the soothsayer’s session. However, searches at the location revealed no trace of Narin.

Experts have suspected that the uncle may have devised this scheme to mislead the gendarmerie as it was claimed that the family has organized several schemes like this to distort the search operations such as leaving the girl’s belongings around the village.

The first hearing in the trial concerning the murder of 8-year-old Güran—who went missing on Aug. 21 and was found dead in a stream in the village on Sep. 8—will take place on Nov. 7 while the perpetrators and motive behind the murder remain unclear.

Yüksel Güran (the mother), Enes Güran (the brother), Salim Güran (the uncle), and informant Nevzat Bahtiyar are facing charges of "premeditated murder of a child," for which aggravated life sentences are being sought.