Virtual Discussions about Karabulut Murder Turn into Actual Protests

In addition to their Internet discussions, facebook members have expressed their criticism about the handling of the Karabulut case in a street protest. "Only after considerable pressure of the public one member of the Garipoğlu family had been arrested." said facebook group member Ahmet Vehbi Şafak, referring to the arrest of Mehmet Nida Garipoğlu, father of the main murder suspect.

Münevver Karabulut's body and dismembered head had been found in a waste container in Etiler, Istanbul, on 3 March. The boyfriend and main suspect in the murder of the 18-year-old high school student, Cem Gariboğlu, has been fugitive ever since. Karabulut's family has been struggling for three months now to find the murderer. They found the support of many people from facebook.com, who organized a protest on Taksim Square on 31 May. About 50 people gathered, criticizing the negligent handling of the case by the security forces.

"We've been claiming justice for 91 days in the internet and on the street"

Şafak explained how the virtual, and later actual, protests began: "Right after the murder of Münevver, several facebook groups had been created and many people joined in. The name of the Garipoğlu family took my attention because I had heard about corruption cases in some of their privately owned companies and they were known to have attacked their own workers in order to end a strike. Presuming that the Garipoğlu family receives a sort of protection from somewhere, I joined the Internet groups 10 days after the murder had happened."

Şafak described the beginning of the actual protest as follows: "The group had originally planned to gather in Beyoğlu on 14 March to draw attention to the matter and after that we were going to pay a visit to Karabulut's grave in Bolu (250 km east of Istanbul). By then no public pressure on the case had developed yet, besides Karabulut's friends were all quite young in age. That is probably why we did not take a big action at that time. Only a few of us made a press statement in Taksim Square. We were a total of 7 people, including Karabulut family members."

Shortly after, Şafak appeared in a television program together with Münevver's father Süreyya Karabulut, which boosted the Internet discussions and increased public pressure on the case, so the group members decided to lounge a second non-virtual action. When they could not gather a significant crowd for the second protest either, they temporarily refrained from further action. In the meantime Karabulut's father had drawn public attention to the case by gathering a considerable number of people in front of his daughter's school. He also expressed his protest together with his daughter's friends by placing a black wreath in front of the house where she had been killed.

At the end of the latest protest on Sunday, Şafak called once more for the perpetrators to be found.

"Previously we had criticized how the Garipoğlu family could remain untouched. In my opinion the public pressure has finally led to the detention of Cem's father Mehmet N. Garipoğlu. That is why I find our public protests important."

Due to Şafak, the Karabulut case could become symbolic for two similar cases when other powerful Turkish families seemed to have been involved in the murder of two young men but no perpetrator was ever convicted. 

The victim's father addressed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a recent television broadcast to solve the case.  (EZÖ/VK/AG)