Her family has appealed to Dutch authorities to resolve questions surrounding her murder, which is feared to have been a hate crime.
Arzu Erbaş Çakmakçı, 33, was stabbed to death on Monday by an unknown assailant outside a daycare center she owned. Çakmakçı, who was married and had two children aged 7 and 14, had received awards and been received by the Dutch royal family for her charity work. The motive for her murder remains a mystery, but there are suspicions that it could have been a xenophobic attack.
Her mourning father, Mustafa Erbaş, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had called the family on Thursday evening to offer his condolences. Erbaş asked him to urge Dutch authorities to find the murderer or murderers, and Erdoğan said in reply that he would discuss the matter with his Dutch counterpart. “My wife said she felt an acute pain in her stomach, like she was being stabbed, on Monday evening. An hour later, a friend in the Netherlands called to give us the news,” Erbaş said. “I appeal to the Dutch authorities on behalf of this mother: Please find the murderers as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, a Turkish man was also reported on Friday to have been killed in his house in Amsterdam. The Cihan news agency said 30-year-old Ufuk Kayakuşu, who owned a cleaning company, was found stabbed to death in his home. Police are investigating the murder but there was no information available on the perpetrator.
