Testimony of Osman Güran
Presiding Judge
Presiding Judge : You have the right to refrain from testifying. First of all, this is not a wrong thing. “I wish to refrain from testifying.” You have the right to testify or not to testify. In our view, this does not make you guilty. Alright? Because on one side is your uncle, on the other side your first cousin. You have this right. Do you wish to testify?
Osman Güran : I do.
Presiding Judge : Then we will hear you without oath.
Osman Güran : Should I tell about the day of the incident?
Presiding Judge : We will start from the day of the incident and then continue. Mr. Osman, let me remind you again of this point. You have the right not to answer questions that are self-incriminating. I will also intervene on this matter. Because some questions may lead to allegations of praising a criminal, concealing criminal evidence, or harboring a criminal. I also expect sensitivity from our colleagues on this matter. Yes, Mr. Osman, I am listening to you. What are these conversations? Did you meet or speak with Enes? Tell us about the day of the incident.
Osman Güran : I only met Enes that day. I met him after she went missing. I realized around seven, seven-thirty in the evening that she was missing. My aunt called out from the path, saying she was missing. At that moment, everyone was there along with Enes. Together with Enes and the villagers, we went out to search. I had not seen Enes earlier that day. Only that day around six, six-thirty in the evening I went in front of my grandfather’s house. I live in the city center. I do not have a house in the village; when I go to the village with my grandfather, I go to my grandfather. I only met Enes that day when we realized she was missing.
Presiding Judge : Yes, you only met Enes that day, when she went missing.
Osman Güran : I mean, by “met,” we did not have any conversation. We were only in the same environment.
Presiding Judge : You were in the same environment. Osman, then you started searching the next day.
Osman Güran : Correct.
Presiding Judge : A slipper was found, a red slipper.
Osman Güran : Yes, correct.
Presiding Judge : This matter— could you tell us about it as well? I mean, could you describe this incident?
Osman Güran : Yes. I was in front of my grandfather’s house.
Presiding Judge : Yes, Osman. What is this slipper matter?
Osman Güran : Yes. I was in front of my grandfather’s house. There were guests. It was evening. My cousin Muhammed Kaya drove down in my uncle Arif Güran’s car. Our elderly great-aunt, Fatma Ünsal, got out of the car. He had brought her down from above, from my uncle Arif’s house. Law enforcement had said only the family should remain at Arif Güran’s house. At that time, Fatma Ünsal and the guests were also at my uncle Arif’s house. Seeing that the elderly were standing, in that commotion he brought the elderly down. When he brought them down, I said there was a guest’s car behind my own car. Since you are here, I said, let’s go as far as the Kadoil petrol station. At the entrance to Çarıklı. We went together to the Kadoil petrol station. We bought some things there. Then Muhammed called our cousin Uğurcan. He asked, “Where are you?” He said, “I’m sitting in an open area near the livestock market.” “Alright,” he said. “We’ll come there too. We’ll sit with you for a bit.” When we went there, of course Hüseyin Güran was also in the car. Hüseyin Güran, my uncle Barış’s son.
Presiding Judge : Yes.
Osman Güran : Then we went there, Your Honor. When I got out of the car, I said to Muhammed: Uğurcan already has a car. There are guests at home. There is no young man to serve them. Let Hüseyin and me return to the village with my uncle Arif’s car. After you two sit for a while, you can come back again. Then he said okay. We got into my uncle Arif’s car. I sat in the driver’s seat. Hüseyin sat next to me. While adjusting the seat to myself, I saw a red slipper in the floor mat tray. I picked it up. I asked, “Whose is this?” Muhammed said, “I went to the market for my nephews and nieces to shop. I picked it up when I came across it along the way. But in that commotion I forgot to mention it when I brought the elderly down.” I then said, “Let’s send it to older brother Baran. It might be Narin’s.” Then to older brother Baran—
Presiding Judge : I did not understand. Where did Muhammed say he took the slipper from?
Osman Güran : On the way. He picked it up while going along the way.
Presiding Judge : Well, that day everyone was already looking for a slipper or something. How did he forget this?
Osman Güran : Law enforcement had said, while the elderly were up there, to leave my uncle Arif’s house. Only the family should remain. Perhaps they were going to have a talk with the family. He came there after leaving the market, after buying items. When he saw the elderly outside standing, he said, “Come, I’ll take you down.” He put the elderly into the car. He said he forgot it at that moment.
Presiding Judge : But isn’t it very interesting that he forgot? Did it make sense to you?
Osman Güran : That is what he said.
Presiding Judge : Then did you report this slipper to law enforcement?
Osman Güran : Yes. We sent it to older brother Baran via WhatsApp. Baran called us back a minute later. He said it could be Narin’s. Then we said we would go to where Muhammed saw the slipper. We said you can come there as well. We handed the slipper over to law enforcement.
Presiding Judge : You handed the slipper over to law enforcement.
Osman Güran : Yes.
Presiding Judge : Muhammed remembered where he found it, right? He took you there. Where he found it. Was it a pair or two pairs?
Osman Güran : It was a single slipper.
Presiding Judge : He found it there and forgot to mention it. You got into the car and went there. These are the questions we will ask. The Lady Judge has a point that is on her mind. While you were searching, you say “we went to sit,” “Uğurcan,” etc. What is meant by “to sit” or “I was sitting there”? While the whole village is in a mobilized state searching for the girl, what does “to sit” mean?
Osman Güran : Not during the sitting. Before the slipper was found, Uğurcan was already sitting in an open area by the livestock market, without us knowing.
Presiding Judge : Which day are you talking about? 21.08 or 22.08?
Osman Güran : It was 3–4 days after the incident, Your Honor. 3–4 days later.
Presiding Judge : Actually the next day is 22.08. The day you found the slipper is the next day, right?
Osman Güran : It was the third day of the incident exactly. I do not remember.
Presiding Judge : That is normal. There is nothing odd about not remembering.
Trial Prosecutor
Trial Prosecutor : We have come to the slipper issue again. In this statement of yours, I recall: thinking that it belonged to Syrians, he first took it. But he thought it might belong to Narin. You have such a sentence in your statement. You said you used that road 6 times.
Osman Güran : I did not see this slipper.
Trial Prosecutor : You have that sentence, right? I remember you gave times— morning, noon, evening— for a road you passed 6 times. Exactly. That neither you in those 6 passes, nor the gendarmerie, nor AFAD saw it. Muhammed says he took it without even getting out of the vehicle— bending from the driver’s door without getting out of the vehicle. Do you remember if he gave you his statement like this? How did he take the slipper?
Osman Güran : He told me this: “I went to the market. It caught my eye when I went. I did not take it. I bought the items. Then on the way back I even drove over the slipper. In fact, I stopped again. When I backed up, I took the slipper. I opened my door and put it on the floor mat.”
Trial Prosecutor : So he says it was in a visible place, and you said you passed there 6 times and the whole village passed there like that.
Osman Güran : If I had seen it, I would have picked it up.
Trial Prosecutor : Your Honor, I have another question. Nesrin Güran is your mother, isn’t she? There is a women’s quarrel in which your mother was present. You know that, right? Do you have anything your mother said on this matter? Did you hear anything? Do you have any information about it?
Osman Güran : No.
Trial Prosecutor : Was there an insult directed at Yüksel?
Osman Güran : No, my mother was in front of Süveyla Özkan’s house that day. She was not even up there during the quarrel. That is what is said. I did not see it with my own eyes.
Trial Prosecutor : No, I was only asking if you had any knowledge.
Osman Güran : I— my mother— such a thing— Okay.
Trial Prosecutor : Thank you.
Law. Aydın Özdemir : When you spoke with Muhammed, at what time did Muhammed find that slipper?
Law. Aydın Özdemir : How many hours had passed?
Osman Güran : When he told me, he said half an hour to forty minutes earlier. “I went to the market.”
Diyarbakır Bar Association
Law. Aydın Özdemir
Law. Aydın Özdemir : He told you he found it half an hour earlier. Then did anyone say to you, “This could be Narin’s slipper”?
Osman Güran : On the first day of the incident, law enforcement came to my aunt Yüksel Güran. They asked what clothes the girl— Narin— was wearing. She said a black dress, and she had red slippers on her feet. Everyone there heard that at that time, and that is how it stuck in our minds.
Law. Aydın Özdemir : No. What I want to ask is this— let me make it clearer. Did anyone from the Güran family say to you, “This could be Narin’s slipper; give your statement in that way”?
Presiding Judge : Barış, to whom did you send the photo message?
Osman Güran : We sent it to older brother Baran.
Presiding Judge : That’s what he is asking.
Osman Güran : No.
Defense Counsel for Yüksel Güran
Law. Yılmaz Demiroğlu
Law. Yılmaz Demiroğlu : Now, the prosecution and the questions— I assume influenced by the indictment— state that in the quarrel among the women there was an insult directed toward Yüksel Güran. This matter is constantly being asked to witnesses.
Presiding Judge : Yes.
Law. Yılmaz Demiroğlu : However, please read the minutes. There is no insult directed at Yüksel Güran. It is toward her house. In other words, there is manipulation here.
Presiding Judge : Possibly. I would call it not manipulation but interpretation. Yes, as the prosecution it is very fine that you look for faults, but it is not manipulation— it is interpretation. Maybe it was said to Yüksel. Maybe it was said to another woman behind Yüksel. Maybe it was said to Arif. Maybe it was said to Nevzat behind Arif’s house.
Law. Yılmaz Demiroğlu : When a house is described, generally the man—
Presiding Judge : Possibly. Possibly. That is yours— your interpretation. The interpretation recorded in the minutes by the prosecution and the Diyarbakır Bar Association— none of it binds us. The court will take all interpretations and state its own interpretation at the end.
Defense Counsels for Enes Güran
Law. Mahir Akbilek
Law. Mahir Akbilek : Mr. Osman, how many days were you in custody with law enforcement?
Osman Güran : I was with law enforcement for about one day. I was in the lockup for about six or seven days.
Law. Mahir Akbilek : Did you encounter ill-treatment, rough beating, behavior that would offend you, discourtesy, severe insult, or any other similar treatment?
Osman Güran : Yes, I did. On the day Narin’s body was found, they took all of my family and brought us to the station. At law enforcement, they attempted to put pincers to my teeth and pull out my toenails. Until nighttime, they held us against a bare wall and beat us. We experienced things like that.
Presiding Judge : You experienced torture.
Law. Mahir Akbilek : Despite this, why did you not file a complaint?
Osman Güran : As a family, we wanted the culprit to be found. We kept quiet, wondering whether the culprit was truly within our family.
Presiding Judge : This would not have contributed to the file anyway— but it’s finished now. Alright. Had it not been, it would not have contributed to the file.
Law. Mustafa Demir
Law. Mustafa Demir : The slipper issue was asked, but let me ask again. Who later determined that the slipper did not belong to Narin?
Osman Güran : Law enforcement asked for the size of the slipper. I think they asked the family what size she wore. That is how I remember it. I cannot be precise, but they said it was not her slipper.
Presiding Judge : That it was not her slipper because the size did not match.
Law. Mustafa Demir : Was it understood in a short time? Or did it take long?
Osman Güran : I think it was understood the next day.
Law. Mustafa Demir : Your father’s statement about who determined it was different. Now I will ask this. There is a vehicle with plate number 56.
Osman Güran : Correct.
Law. Mustafa Demir : 56 XX 763. It appears on the school’s camera records. It arrives at 18:32. Who was driving this vehicle?
Osman Güran : I was.
Law. Mustafa Demir : It was you. Where did you come from at that time?
Osman Güran : I plant all of my grandfather’s fields. At that time, I was in the cotton field to check on the workers. I came from the cotton field to my grandfather’s house.
Law. Mustafa Demir : So you arrived exactly at this time. Then after this time— it says 18:56, but I think it says 59— it was 4 minutes fast. At 18:55, Salim Güran’s car departs from here. Were you there at that time?
Osman Güran : Correct. I was in front of the house. My uncle Salim came to our house. He sat. He greeted my aunt Fatma. He greeted my grandfather. He greeted me. We sat. We even talked about cotton. We talked about pesticides and pests. We had our normal conversation. He said he was calling his worker. And he went to the corn field.
Law. Mustafa Demir : So before 18:55, in front of your house— that is, your grandfather’s house— you sat and spoke with Salim. Afterwards, because Ms. Yüksel did not see Narin at home, I think she calls out in your direction. First, rather, toward your grandfather’s house, to Ms. Maşallah. Did you see any of that?
Osman Güran : On the path above, my aunt Yüksel only called out, asking whether Narin was there. We said, “She is not here, we have not seen her.” Then we understood that she was missing.
Law. Mustafa Demir : Then Ms. Yüksel and Enes go down into the village to search. At those moments, were you still there? Did you see them?
Osman Güran : We only encountered my aunt Yüksel once in the village.
Law. Mustafa Demir : With Enes?
Osman Güran : We encountered Enes up above.
Law. Mustafa Demir : Did Enes have any bruising around his eye?
Osman Güran : I did not see bruising.
Law. Mustafa Demir : So you saw him and did not see any bruising, correct?
Osman Güran : Correct.