"Beat & Release": Citizens Arrest for Istanbul's 'Bonnie & Clyde'

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 31 August 2022)

 

          Bonnie mulls while Clyde gets his just desserts.

Yaşar Güngor has a jewelry shop on Talatpaşa Avenue in Kâğıthane,

Istanbul. The day before yesterday at about 1530 hours two people,

one of them a woman, entered Güngör's shop and sprayed pepper gas

in his face.  Then they beat Güngor with a gun handle, taking whatever

they wanted as the owner lay helpless on the floor.  

However (!), as the thieves tried to escape Güngör's fellow shopowners

and other citizens grabbed the robbers and began to beat them.  Only by

the police arriving at the scene were the suspects saved from lynching. 

Body searches of the robbers revealed the gun, pepper spray and an 

electro-shock gadget.  The money and jewelry were recovered, as well.

While Güngör was taken to a hospital for treatment, robbers Rıza Ö.

and Hatice D. were taken in for questioning at the police station.  

Later, Güngör explained that "after they sprayed the pepper gas in my

face they attacked me with the electro-shock gadget.  Then they began

to hit me in the face with the gun handle.  I tried to resist.  All I could

think of was my grandchildren. I feared for my life."

"Beat & Release": Killer's Red Blankets Can't Cover Up Murder, in Adana

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 30 August 2022)

                            One too many red blankets.

In Narlıca village in Adana's Seyhan district, police were alerted to a 

body found in the garden of a vacant house on 24 August.  Police saw

that the victim had been shot in the head and covered with a red

blanket.  After an autopsy, it was determined that the victim was 

Ali Haydar Sezgin (32). 

Police determined that before his death, Sezgin had spoken with Ahmet

Çakar of the same village and raided Çakar's home, finding an identical

red blanket (!).  Security camera footage showed that Çakar was together

with Ahmet Çakantimor (20) and Mürsel Can (36) on the day of Sezgin's

murder and that they all went to the home of Yusuf G. (27). 

Police then raided Yusuf G.'s home and he, along with Çakar, Çakantimor,

and Mercan C. (36) were taken into custody.  During questioning all of

the suspects accused each other of the murder.  Çakar, Çakantimor and 

Can were jailed, while Yusuf G. and Mercan C. were released on judicial

supervision. 

"Beat & Release": Alphabet Soup of Characters in Sordid Affair, in Izmit

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 27 August 2022)

                           Facing the letter of the law.

M.Y., who lives in İzmit in Kocaeli province, went to the police station

claiming that he had an affair with F.Z. and that when her husband H.Z. 

learned of it he stripped M.Y. of his clothes and beat him with a baseball

bat, all of which was recorded on a cellphone camera.  

M.Y. also told police that H.Z. blackmailed him with the video 

and had the sale of M.Y.'s car transferred to his (H.Z.'s) relative U.Y. 

without any compensation.  

Police began an investigation and took H.Z., his wife F.Z. and U.Y.

into custody but all of them refuted the accusations.  F.Z. asserted that

she did not have an affair with M.Y.  However, police did determine

that M.Y.'s car was in fact sold.  H.Z. was jailed for "mugging, blackmail,

sexual exploitation, threats and kidnapping."  F.Z. and U.Y. were released

pending trial. 

                              Police line-up for this case.

"I Am Lion, Hear Me Roar! "- No Thanks, in Ankara

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Cumhuriyet Newspaper, 25 August 2022)

                                     Noisy neighbors.

In the İncek neighborhood of Ankara's Gölbaşı district, businessman 

Ahmet Zeki Öner opened a café and restaurant on land that he rented 

from Yılmaz Kıbrıs in 2015.  In May 2021, Öner turned the restaurant 

into a zoo instead. (!)

However, the roars of the lions and tigers in the zoo disturbed local

residents, as did the foul smells emanating from the facility.  The zoo

was closed for a week because of these complaints but in August 2021

Öner obtained a license to operate a "B group" zoo.  Neighbor Niyazi

Gürel took exception to this ruling and the court assigned an

investigator to look into the situation. 

The investigator's report noted that there were 3 lions, 2 tigers, 8 lion

cubs, a deer, 3 monkeys, an iguana, a boa constrictor, an Egyptian snake,

various kinds of birds, rabbits and peacocks in the zoo.  The lions and 

tigers, because of their genetic make-up, roar continually to assert their 

territory but this had a disturbing effect on the psychology of the human

neighbors (!). 

                            They're cuddly...for a while.

The court ruled that because of the foul smell and noise, it had been a

mistake to grant the license in the first place so the zoo is now closed.

Neighor Gürel noted that "I'm 80-years-old and I've lived here for 26

years.  When summer came I couldn't stand the foul smells coming

from the urine and feces. I live right next door and the lions roar until

morning so I can't sleep.  Last year a monkey escaped and was caught

only with great difficulty.  What would happen if a lion escaped?!

There's no such thing as a 1,100 square-meter zoo!" 

Gürel's lawyer Merve Nur Özkan stated that "the Ministry has given

the owner two months to transport the animals from here so this period

ends in September.  As a result, this place will be sealed shut."

"Beat & Release": Rottweiler 'Baron' Sniffs and Scratches Murder Site, in Ankara

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 20 August 2022)

The former happy (!) couple and the persistent pooch.

In Gölbaşı, Ankara, a real estate firm preparing a house for sale began

repairs last week and put a Rottweiler dog named 'Baron' in the 

house's garden to serve as a night watchman.  The same day, though,

'Baron' began to scratch the ground in the garden from where a foul

smell was emanating.   Workers then excavated the soil and found a 

woman's body wrapped in aluminum foil.

Police estimated that the woman had been killed two months before and

they identified her as former renter Ayşen Çöl.  Her husband Durmuş Çöl

was taken into custody.  He confessed that he had killed Ayşen hanım 

with a hammer in a dispute over "possessions", burying her body in the

garden.  He told neighbors that Ayşen hanım had deserted him. Çöl was

jailed. 

"Beat & Release": Neighbor and Actor Boyfriend Stage Theft with Entrusted House Key, in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 19 August 2022)

 Good neighbor Seyhan hanım and her "golden davlumbaz".

In the Cevatpaşa neighborhood of Bayrampaşa, Istanbul, Fatma Kara,

who was heading off on vacation in July with her husband Suat Kara, 

entrusted the house key to upstairs neighbor and 22-year renter Seyhan 

Kıyak.   Last Sunday, Suat bey opened the safe in the bedroom and 

found that it was empty and all the jewelry inside missing (!). 

Police were summoned and determined that there had been no forced

entry into the 4th floor flat.  When Fatma hanım told police that she

had given the house key to neighbor Seyhan hanım, police questioned

her and she confessed that she and her boyfriend Erhan Ercan had 

committed the theft.   They had made a copy of the house key, entered

Suat bey's flat and brought the safe to Seyhan hanım's flat.  Ercan

failed to open the safe so a locksmith was called, opened the safe and

the pair took 500,000 TL-worth of jewelry from the safe.  

Seyan hanım and Ercan then put the safe back in the bedroom in Suat's

flat and put some scratches on the safe to make it appear that it had

been broken into.  Seyhan hanım told police that whenever Suat bey

and Fatma hanım went on vacation she tried to find out whether or not

they were concerned about thefts.  She sent Ercan a photo of the safe

and searched Google repeatedly to learn "how far can a security camera

see".  (!)

Police took Ercan into custody and in a search of Seyhan hanım's home

they found 6 gold bracelets and 4 necklaces hidden in a "davlumbaz"

(pipe taking exhaust from the stove), along with credit cards in Seyhan

hanım's name.  She had left a gold bracelet with a grocer for Ercan to

pick up, too, and police seized that, as well.  The locksmith was 

questioned and he confirmed that Ercan had hired him to open the safe.

Ercan, who previously acted on a TV show (!), was jailed and Seyhan

hanım was released under judicial supervision.  

      Erhan bey played a brigand on TV.

"Beat & Release": Drug Dealer Swims Out to Sea But Gets Hooked, in Istanbul

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 15 August 2022)

                             Hard to swim in handcuffs.

Drug dealer Mıraç Kılıç jumped into the water in Avcılar, Istanbul, to

avoid being arrested by police last Thursday.  As police approached 

Kılıç ın the water he went further away from the shore so the police

maritime unit was summoned and reached Kılıç, who by that time

had gone about two kilometers from the shore.  Kılıç could not be

convinced to surrender and went further out to sea, even rejecting a

life preserver offered by the police. 

Ultimately, police divers were called in to grab Kılıç from the water.

At this point, Kılıç, nearly exhausted, was boarded onto a

police boat and handcuffed.  Kılıç had been convicted of drug 

dealing and sentenced to 12.5 years in jail, which is why he tried

so hard to escape.  Nevertheless, he was taken to prison.