Son's Cyanide-laced Fruit Drink Kills Parents

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 16 May 2019)


  One chemistry student who took 'extra credit' to extremes.

Terror came to the Kalkan family of the Soğukkuyu neighborhood in
Izmir's Bayraklı district the day before yesterday.  Mahmut Can Kalkan
(21), a student in the chemistry (!) department at Dokuz Eylül
University, said to his parents Mehmet and Fatma Kalkan at about
10:30 that night "here's a different kind of 'şerbet' (sweet fruit drink). 
Have a taste." The 'şerbet' was laced with potassium cyanide that
Mahmut Can had purchased over the internet. (!)

His parents quickly became ill after drinking the şerbet.  Mahmut Can
wanted his younger sibling E.C. (16) to drink the şerbet, too, but the
sibling refused, knocking over the glass in the process.  The spilled
liquid had a deleterious effect on Mahmut Can, E.C. and their 4-year-
old sibling M.T.  Somehow, mother Fatma was able to call for help
from her neighbors, who perceived the vile smell and called the police.


                                             Why?

All 5 Kalkan family members were taken to the hospital and the
apartment building was evacuated.  Parents Mehmet (46) and Fatma
Kalkan (39) died at the hospital and Mahmut Can was interrogated.
He admitted killing his parents. Mahmut Can, who has been diagnosed
with schizophrenia but does not receive treatment, works commercially
over the internet but recently suffered 45,000 TL (about $7,500) in
losses. 

Reportedly, after giving his parents the cyanide-laced şerbet, Mahmut
Can said to them "you've got 10 minutes left."  Yesterday, his parents
were layed to rest after a funeral ceremony at Ali Rıza Güven Mosque
in Bornova.  Mehmet's father Mahmut Kalkan had trouble standing, as
he cried throughout the ceremony.  Younger sister Hatice Yılmaz came
from France for her parents' funeral and was overwrought. Mehmet
and Fatma Kalkan will be buried in their home province Yozgat in
central Anatolia.

Cyanide is freely available for purchase over the internet in Turkey.
A spokesman for the Environment and Urban Ministry, which is
responsible for making a list of banned chemical substances, explained
that "Turkey's regulations are the same as the EU's. Whichever chemical
substances are forbidden in EU countries, they are forbidden here, too.
And whatever they sell, we sell, too. So the sale of cyanide is permitted." 


                         Bayraklı district is within Izmir city.