"Beat & Release": 23 Parked Cars Wrecked by Rampaging "Transformer" Crane, in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Sözcü Newspaper, 7 July 2025)

             Security camera footage: before and after!

In Istanbul's Başakşehir district at about 6 PM the evening

before last, an out-of-control mobile construction crane slid

down Güvercintepe Street and wrecked 23 parked cars (!). 

Fortunately, there were no deaths or injuries reported. 

Yasemin Kaya was one of those whose car was destroyed

by the rampaging crane said: "My daughter cried out to me 'Mom,

a crane is on the loose and made a mess of all the cars on 

the street!"  

"It's kind of  a mess, but it'll have to do till the real

mess gets here..."

"Beat & Release": Decapitated TIR Driver's Truck Burned to Make it Appear as Accidental Death, in Konya

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 6 July 2025)

                  Keep on truckin'!...well, maybe not.

The morning before yesterday at about 0430 AM, the body of

TIR (commercial tractor-trailer) driver Özcan Karakaya (47)

was found in his overturned and burned vehicle in Karapınar

district of Konya province. 

However (!), an autopsy revealed that Karakaya had been 

shot in the head prior to the fire and that he had also been

decapitated (!).  

It turned out that Karakaya had gone with Şakir Türkoğlu (38)

to Kayseri, where they picked up a load of iron and brought it

back to Konya.  Türkoğlu was taken into custody and confessed

to the murder, "explaining" that "He was talking in an 

unsuitable way about my sister, so as a matter of honor I killed 

him. To make it look like an accident, I torched the truck."

Türkoğlu was jailed. 

 

TNT Mascot "Tapasya", The Calico Cat, Found Safe Days After Mysterious Disappearance, in Kadıköy

 //Special for TNT, 5 July 2025//

       "What's all the fuss about, humans?"

TNT's mascot, "Tapasya", the calico cat, disappeared from 

TNT HQS on the night of July 1, as if having vanished into 

thin air.   Search efforts since then proved fruitless...until 

this afternoon (!), when a source reported hearing that a cat 

that looked much more like a house cat than a street cat,  

had snuck into a storage shack behind TNT HQS. 

                               "What, me worry?"

All TNT resources were mobilized immediately, and once the 

keys to the shack were obtained, "Tapasya", frozen with fear 

and without food and water for 3 days (!), reluctantly agreed

to "surrender" to TNT authorities. 

Happy days are here again at TNT HQS!

Back in the TNT Editor's chair.

"Beat & Release": Fugitive "Eagle" Found Hiding in Suitcase, Sent to Prison Cage, in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 4 July 2025)

                 Tough to spread one's wings inside.

In Güngören district of Istanbul, Şenol Kartal (whose surname

means "eagle") and Reşit Ayten argued over money and a girl,

prompting Kartal to shoot Ayten dead on Mareşal Fevzi Çakmak

boulevard on the night of 12 March. 

Police set about tracking down Kartal, who has a police record

of 19 crimes and 4 warrants for his arrest (!).  (Victim Ayten was

more accomplished, with 20 crimes and 12 warrants.)  In any 

case,  the search for Kartal led police to an address in Esenyurt

district on 27 June, but the suspect could not be found. 

However (!),  with a more intensive search, police discovered 

Kartal hiding in a suitcase atop a closet.  The search also

yielded  an AK-47 charger, 3 unlicensed 9mm revolvers, 23

7.62 bullets and an amount of illegal drugs. 

In his statement to police, Kartal "explained" that "I met with

Reşit to chat.  He shot at me, but missed. Then I shot him."

Kartal has been sent to prison. 

"Beat & Release": Master-Apprentice House Thieves With Long Police Records Finally Nabbed, in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 3 July 2025)

           Pınar hanım somehow (!) kept a low profile.

A home was burglarized in Kartal district of Istanbul on 18 

June and a police investigation revealed that the culprits

were like a master-apprentice team.  About 493,000 TL

(about $12,300) worth of jewelry was stolen.

Security camera footage led police to Pınar Ura (37), who 

has a police record of 167 (!) crimes for break-ins and theft.

Pınar hanım was assisted in the Kartal robbery by Hülya

Sucu (18), who at this young age already has a police record

of 14 crimes. 

According to the police, Pınar hanım is wanted in connection

with 15 home robberies in 10 different districts and Hülya

hanım is facing a jail sentence of 15 years, 8 months, and 10

days (!) for her crimes.  They were both taken into custody

in Başakşehir on 1 July. 

Kartal, south of Maltepe, and Başakşehir, west of Sultangazi.

"Crash & Release": Pilot and Passenger Are Subjects of Intense Rescue Search, After Plane Crash in Northeastern Anatolia

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 3 July 2025)

                 The "world tour" is on hold for now.

A single-engine M20J airplane, piloted by Mehet Demirci, left

Sivrihisar in Eskişehir province and crashed into a  mountain

on the border of Erzurum and Rize provinces at about 6 o'clock

in the evening.  Demirci's one passenger was Hicran Kaya, whom

he was taking to Rize, and it was her frantic call for help that

brought rescuers to the crash site. 

A reporter for new agency DHA reached Hicran hanım by phone

and she told him: "Our plane has hit a mountain.! We don't know

where we are!  Help us, we're dying!"

AFAD (search & rescue) teams from Bayburt, Rize and Erzurum,

with two military helicopters equipped with night vision devices,

along with two Gendarmerie search aircraft,  110 personnel, search

dogs, a drone, "112" (like "911") teams, and two vehicles and 10

personal from AKUT (search & rescue) responded to the crash.

The search lasted all night and was focused on Erzurum's İspir and

Pazaryolu districts, as well as in Rize's İkizdere district. 

Pilot Demirci has been flying since 2008 and he was planning to

continue on by himself on a world tour (!) after dropping off 

Hicran hanım in Rize. 

"Beat & Release": Car Wash Becomes Tomb for Asphyxiated Youths, in Mersin

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 1 July 2025)

In the Sağlık neighborhood of  Toroslar district in Mersin the

night before last, when parents hadn't heard from their

offspring they called the police, who then went to the car wash 

owned by Arda G. (22). 

The police found the gate closed at the car wash but they

heard a car's motor running inside so they entered, only to

find the lifeless bodies of Yiğithan U. (25), Abdulvahit B.

(25) and Batuham A. (18) in the car, bearing plate number

33 AZL 780, and that of Arda G. in front of the toilet.

Medics were summoned, but all four men had died from

asphyxiation caused by the car's exhaust within the closed

car wash.  A dead dog was found, as well, along with 

an apparatus for smoking illegal drugs and a revolver. 

Security camera footage reflected two of the dead youths

in the car, bringing it into the car wash earlier.