Family sabotaged search efforts for Narin Güran, court finds

The family of Narin Güran, the 8-year-old girl found murdered in Diyarbakır, is now facing allegations of actively obstructing the search for their missing daughter.

Narin vanished from her village on Aug 21, and her body was discovered 19 days later dumped in a sack in a creek near her Tavşantepe village.

With several members of the Güran family, including Narin’s mother and uncle, already remanded in custody, the court has now documented that family members actively attempted to sabotage the search efforts. Their participation in the efforts was already met with criticism given the fact that several family members were among the suspects.

On Sep 14, a minor identified as R.A., an employee at the farm of Salim Güran, Narin’s uncle, was remanded in custody for alleged involvement in the murder. Retrieved WhatsApp messages between R.A. and Salim Güran showed the boy had written “not dead yet” to his boss, though it is unclear if this message directly referenced Narin. Salim Güran, one of the chief suspects, has been arrested since Sep 2.

False reports

In its decision for R.A.’s arrest, the court listed several actions by Güran family members to obstruct the search:

• False reports were made, claiming a child’s slipper was found near a tent where Syrian workers were staying, in an attempt to divert the gendarmerie’s attention.
• A fire was deliberately set in the village two days after Narin’s disappearance.
• Unusual power outages occurred during the search and rescue operations.
• A false tip claimed two individuals were seen taking a young girl to the upper part of the village.
• False statements were given to mislead security forces.
• Attempts were made to steer the gendarmerie away from the Eğertutmaz Creek, where Narin’s body was eventually found.

The family’s participation in the search efforts drew criticism, as several of its members were already suspects in the case. Given the family’s significant influence in the region, there were concerns they might attempt to cover up the crime or shift blame onto others to avoid accountability.

Strengthening these suspicions, N.B., a suspect unrelated to the family, initially confessed to dumping Narin’s body into the creek after being offered 200,000 liras by Salim Güran. However, N.B. later retracted this statement, claiming that Güran had threatened to “obliterate my family” if he refused, and that he was coerced into disposing of the body. Following these claims, members of the Güran family began accusing N.B. of being responsible for Narin’s death.

(VK)