Taxi Driver Strangles "Blue Fatma", Starts Fire to Cover It Up

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 3 November 2020)

                            No, nightmare.

The day before yesterday in Baçelievler, Istanbul, the burned body of

Fatma Mavi ("mavi" means "blue" in Turkish) was found in a home 

after a fire broke out.  It turned out that Fatma hanım had been 

strangled prior to the fire.

The incident occurred the day before yesterday in a house at 4th Street

and Mahmutbey Avenue in the Şirinevler neighborhood.  

An explosion in the second-floor apartment of Fatma hanım, who

lived there alone and who worked as a director's assistant at a TV 

station, caused a fire that drew firefighters and police to the scene.

          Ergin A., just back from getting gas.

Searching the home, the firefighters found Fatma hanım's partially

burned body.  Medical examiners noticed bruises on her neck and

the suspicion of strangulation increased.  Cellphone records showed

that Fatma hanım last spoke with taxi driver Ergin A., who first

denied killing Fatma hanım but after cross-examination, confessed.

In his statement, Ergin A. explained that "on Saturday night I went

to Taksim with Fatma and two other women to have fun.  We came

home at about seven in the morning and had an argument about 

another woman.  As the argument heated up I lost my temper and

strangled Fatma.  Seeing that she was dead, I called my friend 

Ali İlkay S. and we went to a gas station to buy gasoline.  I then

set the house on fire to cover up the murder." (!)