"Beat & Release": Housewives of Büyükçekmece and a Murder-or-Suicide Mystery

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 8 January 2021)

                                            The cast.

In Büyükçekmece, Istanbul, Turkmen caretaker Muhabbat 

Meremglyyeva (38) fell three flights to her death.  At the time, there 

were five women in the flat Meremglyyeva fell from and they said

that she jumped from a window.  However (!), the bite marks of one

of the women, Ülkü Ç. were seen on Meremglyyeva's wrist.  In

addition, a message sent from Ülkü Ç.'s phone to CİMER (Turkish

president's office) read: "I pushed that woman to the ground."

Meremglyyeva had been caring for İpek A.'s  handicapped 3.5-year-old

daughter for two months when, on 18 September 2019, she fell to her

death.  The resulting police investigation revealed that the Turkmen

woman's fingerprints were found on either side of the window, along

with Ülkü Ç.'s bite marks on her wrist.  Also, hair strands from Ülkü Ç. 

and İpek A. were found between the fingers of Meremglyyeva's right

hand.  The five women were taken into custody but then released. (!)

According to the indictment prepared by the Bakırköy public

prosecutor, İpek A. became suspicious when a hearing device valued

at 8,000 TL (about $1,000) and some money went missing so she

summoned her friends to her home to help her interrogate the Turkmen

caretaker.  The suspects claim that when they were calling the police,

Meremglyyeva grabbed İpek A.'s phone and a fight between Ülkü Ç.

and the Turkmen caretaker ensued, with Ülkü Ç. biting Meremglyyeva's

left wrist.

The suspects claim that Meremglyyeva jumped to the ground from the

window was refuted by the public prosecutor, who charged all five of 

the women with "cooperative pre-meditated murder" and asked for 

life jail sentences for each of them.  The message sent from Ülkü Ç.'s

phone to CİMER on 5 May 2020, saying that she regretted pushing

Meremglyyeva out the window to the ground, prompted police to 

put Ülkü Ç. in jail.  

At the first hearing of the case, Ülkü Ç. participated via video from 

jail, while İpek A., Büşra M., Fatma M. and Burcu K. attended the 

hearing in person.  However (!), Ülkü Ç. told the judge that she did

not send the message to CİMER: "At that time, I had reported to the

Büyükçekmece public prosecutor that  my phone had been stolen."

She added that "We thought she (caretaker) may have done something

to the child.  She pulled my hair so I bit her arm.  We pushed her into

the bedroom.  I went to the balcony, as did she, and I saw her jump to

the ground."

Suspect Büşra M. also claimed that Meremglyyeva jumped to her 

death, asserting that "I had no involvement in her death."  Ülkü Ç. 

will remain in jail and the other suspects under judicial supervision 

until a technical report about the phone is received by the court from 

the Information Technologies and Communications Council.

                    Büyükçekmece district of Istanbul.