Justice minister says three murders unsolved for up to 20 years in Bursa and Bitlis have been reopened, with suspects jailed

Old files, new evidence

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said on Friday that three murder cases in Bursa and Bitlis that had gone unsolved for 14, 16 and 20 years had been reopened, and that operations had been carried out against suspects, Anadolu Ajansı, Hürriyet and NTV reported. He made the announcement on his NSosyal account.

The work was coordinated by the ministry’s department for investigating unsolved crimes, together with chief public prosecutors’ offices and the police and gendarmerie. Gürlek said investigators had used newer technology to review DNA analyses, forensic reports, phone traffic and cell-tower records alongside witness statements, and had moved against suspects on the strength of that evidence.

“We will not allow any murder to be covered up by time. We have taken 83 murders in 76 files out of the unsolved category.”

Akın Gürlek, Justice Minister, Anadolu Ajansı(translated)

Two killings in Bursa

In Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa, Mehmet Arıcan went missing in 2010 and was later found shot dead with a hunting rifle in a wooded area. Phone records, financial inquiries and new witness statements were examined again, and one of the suspects detained in the operation was jailed pending trial, the minister said.

In Kestel, also in Bursa, Mehmet Şahinoğlu went missing in 2012. Burned human bones were found in Kestel in 2015, and the inquiry into his killing went back over forensic tests on those bones, dental records, communication data and witness statements. Twelve suspects were targeted in an operation; 11 were detained, and the search for one fugitive continues, Gürlek said.

A woman still unnamed in Tatvan

In Tatvan, Bitlis, a woman was found by the roadside in 2006, shot in the head. DNA samples, phone records and witness statements were reviewed again. In simultaneous operations in four provinces, two of the suspects detained were jailed and two were released under judicial supervision, according to NTV and Cumhuriyet.

A warrant and an Interpol red notice are being sought for a fugitive suspect who is abroad, and work to establish the victim’s identity continues, the minister said. Sözcü summed up the three inquiries as three arrests and 11 detentions.

Gürlek thanked the prosecutors’ offices in Mustafakemalpaşa, Tatvan and Bursa, the Bursa police and the gendarmerie units involved, including the JASAT investigation teams, Cumhuriyet reported. He said the passing of time could not justify crimes going unpunished, and that the ministry would keep following old murder cases.