WAS NAZARYAN ALONE IN THE ATTACKS AGAINST ELDERLY ARMENIAN WOMEN?
Today’s Zaman (Turkey)
November 28, 2013 Thursday
It is like a crime movie with many surprises. Once we get a certain
idea about the killer, we are very much surprised at the next scene
when another shadow starts to appear on the screen. Remember the
attacks and murders of elderly Armenian women in Istanbul’s Samatya
neighborhood in late 2012? When we looked at the events as they
unfolded, we concluded that they were hate crimes.
Turfanda Asik, 87, was severely beaten and lost her sight. The
assailant took nothing from her apartment. Maritsa Kucuk, 84, was
found dead in her home, stabbed seven times and badly beaten. Only a
few pieces of jewelry that were on her were taken, but the money in
her apartment remained untouched.
Sultan Aykar, 83, was knocked down by an assailant approaching from
behind as she unlocked the door to enter her home. She lost her sight.
It was obvious back then that these attacks were not robbery
motivated. But the police hastily came to this conclusion in their
very first announcement.
And on March 4, the police came up with quite a surprising discovery.
They caught the suspect, whose blood sample was a perfect match to
blood found at Kucuk’s apartment. Thirty-eight-year-old Murat Nazaryan,
the alleged assailant, was himself of Armenian origin.
With this result, the suspicion about these incidents being potential
hate crimes had quickly dispersed and the file was closed.
However, as soon as families of the victims started to get involved in
the case, some suspicious elements started to emerge once again. The
prosecutor, for example, declared the file confidential and barred
victims from accessing the file.
Lawyers from the Human Rights Association (IHD) were following the case
on behalf of the victims. On Nov. 19, they made a public announcement,
explaining peculiarities in this case and giving reasons why we should
look at the case as a potential hate crime. Let’s read this statement:
“Maritsa Kucuk, 87, was battered and stabbed to death on Dec. 28,
2012. Had murder been the only motive, an abrupt blow or a firearm
shot would have sufficed to kill a woman at that age. Yet, she was
brutally battered for hours and repeatedly stabbed. … From Nov. 28,
2012 to Jan. 26, 2013, a period that [includes] Maritsa Kucuk’s
murder, other elderly Armenian women were targeted in Samatya in
similar attacks involving brutal violence. Following Murat Nazaryan’s
arrest, all news reports, which were obviously funneled to the media
from a single source, highlighted Nazaryan’s Armenian ethnicity,
branded him the ‘Samatya assailant,’ creating the impression he was
responsible for all attacks, and asserted that the attacks were
robbery-motivated. Nazaryan, however, is currently on trial only
for Maritsa Kucuk’s murder. … Nazaryan remained silent [during]
the first two hearings. The only thing he said was, ‘I didn’t kill
anyone.’ At the hearing on Nov. 4, 2013, the truth began to slowly
emerge. Maritsa Kucuk was killed by three people who had taken Nazaryan
along by force. They had guns. … [Nazaryan] mentioned gangs. He
said he had kept silent because he was bullied and frightened.”
Nazaryan’s new testimony has led human rights groups to believe that
these attacks may indeed have been organized ones. The lawyers asked
the court to expand the investigation.
As far as I can understand, Nazaryan’s testimony has yet to lead to
arrests of other suspects; neither can I see any details about the
identity of other possible suspects. However, if his last statements
are not fabrication, then he turned into a mere pawn of an organized
gang perpetuating hate crimes.
With these tiny details, it would be premature to make any conclusion
on whether he is a pawn or an ordinary criminal who makes up stories.
However, the case deserves close scrutiny to ensure that the whole
truth about these murder and attacks is revealed. While the case is
unfolding, many other interesting details may come along with it.