"Beat & Release": An "Ear for an Ear" Murder, in Pendik

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 14 June 2023)

       Drunken ear-biting fetish ends with deafening silence.

Six months ago while drinking in a wooded area of Pendik, Istanbul, 

Özkan A. (49) met Ömer Çoşkun, a driver for a pharmaceutical firm,

and they became drinking buddies.  From time to time the two met to

drink together but a month and a half ago, while drinking Çoşkun bit

Özkan A.'s ear (!), breaking off a part of it.  Özkan A. was angry about

this but during subsequent drinking bouts Çoşkun joked that "I'll bite 

off your other ear, too!"

The evening before last, an enraged Özkan A.  took a knife with him

and went to Çoşkun home in the Çamçeşme neighborhood and stabbed

Çoşkun in the back.  Özkan A. fled but returned later with his brother

Hakan A. and was taken into custody by police.  Meanwhile, Çoşkun

died at a hospital.  

Özkan A. explained in his statement to police that "a month and a half

ago Ömer bit off a part of my ear.  After that every time we met he joked

that he'd bite off the other ear, too.  On the day of the incident, I got very

angry about this and stabbed him."  The two brothers were jailed.