The governor's remarks pertained to the case of Münevver Karabulut, an 18-year-old whose decapitated body was discovered in a bag in a dumpster with her head in a guitar case atop it in İstanbul's Etiler district. Güler said in particular that a great deal of “information” published in the press regarding the prime murder suspect, Karabulut's boyfriend Cem Garipoğlu, was incorrect and constituted a form of information pollution. “Because of the confidential nature of the preliminary investigation and the fact that every murder case has its own characteristics, the sharing of some information with the public influences the ongoing investigation,” Güler said.The governor's comments were made in an information bulletin prepared at the request of Interior Minister Beşir Atalay in response to a question motion submitted by the Republican People's Party's (CHP) Adana deputy Gaye Erbatur.
The governor said that the victim lived with her family and on the morning of her murder left the to meet with a friend and that the police began investigating her murder in the evening, when a worker, rummaging through trash bins, found her head in a guitar case in a dumpster and notified police of the grisly discovery. Güler said that the İstanbul police forces worked in a “meticulous and careful” manner following the discovery, locating in the space of one-and-a-half-hours the murder scene, which was 40 kilometers away.
The governor also explained that Garipoğlu's father and mother were detained for four days in accordance with relevant laws before being released by court order. Güler's statement emphasized that restrictions were put into place within four hours of the discovery of the corpse in an attempt to prevent Garipoğlu -- who remains at large, with some speculating that he might have fled the country -- from leaving Turkey, with border authorities being notified about the situation. Within 14 hours a court order was implemented to authorize the detention of the suspect by law enforcement officers anywhere in the country or at any border crossing, he said. The governor noted that reports that border records showed Garipoğlu left the country and did not re-enter were baseless and said that such rumors and falsehoods unjustly led to a negative impact on the image of Turkey's security forces in the eyes of the public.
