Cem Orga Turukan, 20, is said to have decided to play Russian roulette early on Friday despite opposition from his group of friends at the home of Ambassador of Turkey to Poland Ecvet Tezcan in the Bilkent district of Ankara. He aimed a pistol just below his chin and pulled the trigger, dying from the shot at the scene. Turukan’s friends, Sena Ö., Başak G., Nil S. Y., Can İ. Y., İsmail B. T., Amil A. and Tezcan’s son, Tarık Tezcan, who were taken into custody following the incident, stated that they had organized a party at the ambassador’s house and were drinking alcohol when Turukan shot himself.In the investigation launched into the incident by the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office, it was revealed that Tarık invited his friends over for a party at his father’s house on Thursday night. The youths were drinking alcohol when Turukan, a junior student at a faculty of agriculture, found a Smith & Wesson pistol belonging to Tarık’s father and proposed to his friends that they play Russian roulette at around 1 a.m. on Friday. His friends opposed the idea but Turukan placed the pistol just below his chin and abruptly shot himself. Turukan fell to the floor and died at the scene.
In a statement to the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office, one of Turukan’s friends said: “Turukan found a pistol and some bullets in one of the drawers and placed one bullet into the pistol. He placed the gun below his chin and asked us if we would like to play Russian roulette. Seeing that we were unwilling and opposed to the idea, he pulled the trigger and we heard an appalling noise. He fell to the floor. We were all horrified.”
The Ankara police found that all the testimonies corroborated and released the seven youth.
Ambassador Tezcan, on the other hand, belied allegations that his son Tarık and his seven friends played Russian roulette in his house. “Such allegations certainly do not reflect the truth. My son and his friends were released after they made their deposition,” he stated. Expressing his sorrow over the death of Turukan, Tezcan added: “After I was nominated as ambassador of Turkey to Poland, we moved to Warsaw. My son was living in our house in Ankara, but now I regret having allowed him to stay there alone.”
Turukan’s mother, Füsun Turukan, said she was not aware how the incident took place or why her son shot himself. “The previous day, my son told me that he would stay at one of his friend’s houses. I do not know how it happened, but now they tell me that my son shot himself with a pistol while he was playing Russian roulette. I guess Tarık, my son’s friend, brought the pistol in question to show it to his friends,” stated Mrs. Turukan.
