Outrage in Turkey after body of girl found in sack

Two dozen people arrested over suspected murder as Erdogan says he is following case

Protesters in Istanbul hold portraits of eight-year-old Narin Guran, whose body was found on Sunday after being missing for 19 days. AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was following up on the case of an eight-year-old girl whose body was found in a sack in a river.

The case has prompted outrage across Turkey over women’s and children’s rights. Narin Guran’s body was found by a search and rescue team on Sunday in a stream a few kilometres from where she lived with her family, in a village outside Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey. She had gone missing more than two weeks earlier.

“We will hold those who took the life of our delicate girl accountable,” Mr Erdogan said. “I will personally follow up on the matter so that the murderers who killed the innocent child receive the harshest punishment.”

Diyarbakir Governor Murat Zorluoglu said Narin’s body had been put in a bag and left on the bank of the Egertutmaz stream, before being covered with tree branches and stones “in a way that would not arouse suspicion and to give a natural appearance”.

Two dozen people, including Narin’s parents, brothers and uncles, have been arrested in connection with her death, Turkish media reported. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said late on Tuesday that police were taking statements from suspects in custody. One man had confessed to a role in the crime and was referred to a criminal court, Turkish news agency ANKA reported.

A 10-hour-long autopsy was complicated by decay to the body and it was not possible to make any conclusive statement about the cause of death, authorities said.

Narin was buried near her family home yesterday, amid public criticism over the fact a bridal veil was placed on her coffin.

"Women's dreams are not just to wear a wedding dress. Of course, there may be women who prefer this. But there are also women who don't," said lawyer Esin Ozel Uysal, who works with Turkish civil society organisation We Will Stop Femicides Platform. "They shouldn't try to normalise such traditions through children, through an eight-year-old child. That's why there's so much anger directed at this."

Her death has led to protests across the country, including in Istanbul and the capital Ankara, with demonstrators demanding that the perpetrators be brought to justice and calling on authorities to implement more stringent protection policies if there are concerns about a child.

"Of course, Narin's case should be followed up after her death, but the real duty of the country's administrators is to effectively carry out their duties before the children die ... when the issue is first brought up, and to intervene in this," Ms Uysal told The National.

Turkey's Minister of Family and Social Services Mahinur Goktas said her ministry was providing psychosocial support in the neighbourhood where the incident took place, and added that authorities will “do everything we can to ensure that the person or persons who took Narin from her life receive the most severe punishment”.

Campaigners have long criticised authorities for failing to prevent murders of women and children, often at the hands of family members.

The We Will Stop Femicides group has recorded the killing of 14 girls this year. Nine were killed together with their mothers.

“Perpetrators use children as a threat when women want to make decisions about their lives,” the platform said in its latest six-monthly report. It gave the example of a man who shot his two daughters, killing one of them, because his former wife refused to reconcile with him.

Turkey is a signatory to the Lanzarote Convention, a Council of Europe pact aiming to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation of children. In 2021, the country pulled out of the Istanbul Convention, a similar treaty aiming to prevent and combat violence against women.