Karabulut murder investigation focuses on Garipoğlu family

The first confession of aiding and abetting Garipoğlu, who stands accused of murdering his girlfriend, Münevver Karabulut (18), whose decapitated body was found inside a trash can in İstanbul's Etiler district seven months ago, came on Thursday from a driver working for the family's company.

Ahmet Batur, a driver for Cem Garipoğlu's father, Nida Garipoğlu, and Mehmet Karakaya, a purchasing manager for the Garipoğlu group of companies, confessed to police in detail how they helped Cem Garipoğlu flee the crime scene and hide for 197 days from the police until he surrendered a week ago.

The two men, detained with three others earlier this week, said in their first testimony on Thursday that they both helped the suspect.

Driver Batur said in his deposition: “I took the car on the day of the murder, but I did not know about the murder. My boss, Nida Garipoğlu, told me to. I drove and picked Cem up, and then delivered him to another driver.”

The investigators have established so far that on the first night after the murder, Cem Garipoğlu stayed at a house owned by the Garipoğlu company in İstanbul's Beylikdüzü district. Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office has granted permission to extend the detention of the five suspects being held for aiding and abetting.

Also on Thursday, prosecutors called on Nida Garipoğlu to testify. He, too, has been jailed since Cem Garipoğlu' escape. In his testimony, Nida Garipoğlu said his son had confessed to him that he had committed the murder.

Investigators have still not ruled out that Cem Garipoğlu might not have acted alone in the murder. Traces of DNA from another male established to be from the Garipoğlu family were found on the victim's body.

On Friday, Metin Feyzoğlu, a lawyer for the Garipoğlu family, said the family was going to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming violations of the law during the investigation.

Feyzoğlu said the father was in jail for no reason, noting that he had an alibi. “It has been established that Nida Garipoğlu was somewhere else on the day of the murder and the day after. What's more, there are fundamental rights secured by the Constitution. And nowhere in that Constitution is a statement that says “except in the case of Nida Garipoğlu.” Criminal liability belongs to one person. It is impossible for a person to be at two places at the same time. In that sense, accusing Nida Garipoğlu of murder is unacceptable. Also, there is a ruling of confidentiality on the case. It is impossible for us to see the content of the file, the phone records and read people's testimonies. I should say that the confidentiality effectively destroys our right to a defense. It is equally impossible to understand us having to follow the content of the case file from the press.”

He also told reporters that under the Constitution and the Code on Criminal Procedure (CMK), no one can be forced to testify against their own children.

Baran makes further claims

Journalist Cemil Baran, who was briefly detained during the investigation for allegedly acting as an intermediary between Nida Garipoğlu and the victim's father, Süreyya Karabulut, has made new claims concerning the investigation.

Baran in a statement on Thursday said more arrests were going to follow. He said: “Alarmnet [a security company], which has footage of Münevver Karabulut as she was being sawed into pieces, had security footage available through direct IP connections 24 hours a day. The first person to see this footage and the first person to erase it is [the suspect's uncle] Fatih Garipoğlu. And he has that footage now.”

Baran also reiterated his earlier claim that Garipoğlu had not surrendered but was captured abroad and then appeared to surrender in İstanbul. He said more operations would follow and that hundreds would be arrested. Baran said: “I had said earlier that at least 50 or 60 people would be detained, but I was wrong. I think this figure will be around 250 to 300 people. It will boggle your mind. And when they near the end, all the rotten apples will be exposed by the Council of Forensic Medicine [ATK], the police department and the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK].”