Münevver Karabulut - Summary of a Murder Case

Karabulut murder

18-year old Münevver Karabulut was killed on 3 March 2009. Her body had been dumped into a waste container in the Istanbul district of Etiler after her head had been cut off. Following the gruesome murder of the high school student, primary murder suspect and Karabulut's boyfriend C.Garipoğlu disappeared. He was fugitive for 197 days. A red bulletin had been issued to find him. Suspect Garipoğlu turned himself in to the police on 17 September. His surrender was announced in a press release made by Istanbul Governor Muammar Güler, General Director of Police Oğuz Kaan Köksal and Istanbul Chief of Police Hüseyin Çapkın.

Surroundings of the investigation

The murder was subject of several television programms, furthermore Karabulut's family and friends expressed their criticism about the handling of the murder case in a street protest. The victim's father Süreyya Karabulut claimed that the suspect had been caught after the murder but was released again. Celalettin Cerrah, Istanbul Chief of Police at the time, brought him to court for these allegations. Süreyya Karabulut argued that the police had accepted bribery by the suspect's family. Cerrah criticized the accusations harshly. The former Chief of Police made waves when he said in an interview that the Karabulut family did not look after their daughters. The Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission requested information about the murder of Münevver Karabulut from the Ministry of the Interior and the Public Prosecutor's Office.

The Karabulut family lawyers withdrew from the case because of personal differences. Sürreya Karabulut managed to keep the murder case continuously on the media's agenda by organizing demonstrations and declarations in various places. Once he accused the primary suspect and his older brother Levent Garipoğlu to be members of Satanist websites.

In the Forensic Medicine Institute two bodies got mixed up and Karabulut's underwear was besmeared with sperm. Hereupon, the victim's father said he was going to file a complaint against the Forensic Medicine Institute and the Ministry of Justice. DNA samples from Garipoğlu's relatives were taken. The primary suspect's father Nida Garipoğlu and his mother Tülay Makbule Garipoğlu were detained and released again. His mother went abroad afterwards. Their release caused such a strong reaction in public that his father was arrested again and kept in detention due to a court decision.

Users of Facebook created webpages for Münevver Karabulut. Turkish producer Melih Göğebakan announced to shoot a movie about Karabulut's life story. Suspect Garipoğlu has been frequently denunciated. The murder case appeared in the news of countries like Russia, USA and Armenia. When Hüseyin Çapkın became Istanbul Chief of Police, he declared that "the noose tightens".

Open questions after surrender

According to ntvmsnbc.com, discrepancies between suspect Garipoğlu's statement about the course of the night and evidence shown by security cameras raise further questions. Neither does the report of the Forensic medicine concur with the suspect's explanations. Additionally, Garipoğlu claims to have committed the murder on his own, albeit several DNA samples had been detected. Evidence concerning Karabulut's thoroughly collected belongings suggests that the murder might have been planned in advance. (EZÖ/VK)