Murdered for Refusing to Move to Turkey

A Turkish husband in Germany shot and killed his wife because she refused to move to Turkey with him. He then killed himself. The entire incident occurred in front of the family’s three children.

Many thanks to Hermes for translating this article from Berliner Zeitung:

Family drama in Kreuzberg — Man shot wife and then himself

Berlin — A 40-year-old man shot his wife and them himself in Oranien street-Kreuzberg. The children must have witnessed the crime. The precipitating incident for this crime was a dispute over the possibility of moving to Turkey.

He never felt at home in Germany; he wanted to go back to Turkey. But she did not want to leave Germany. On Tuesday evening, Attila U. Shot his 39-year-old wife Turna, and then himself — all in the presence of their three children. The drama happened just before 22:00 in the third floor of a residential building in Oranien Street-Kreuzberg.

The children — 18, 12, and 10 years old — ran in panic to neighbor’s flat opposite them. Then the 12-year-old phoned the firefighters and told them that their father had just shot their mother and himself.

They were cousins

Two emergency doctors were able to bring the father back to life for a while. But he died shortly afterwards in the Friedrichshain hospital. The children went to live with their grandmother. The family of the deceased lives nearby, in Oranien Square.

Homicide Department No. 2 of the criminal investigation office has undertaken the investigation.

The autopsy of the two deceased was concluded in the afternoon. It was stated as a result that Attila U. killed his wife with 2 shots in the upper torso. He shot himself three times in the chest. The pistol had been illegally bought by him. According to the information given by the prosecutor’s office, the 40-year-old had no weapon license. “It is still not clear where he got his weapon from,” legal spokesperson Martin Steltner said. “The motive for this (act) was of a personal kind”.

Neighbors and acquaintances say the man and the woman used to quarrel. Attila U. was of a choleric nature, and also insanely jealous. He and his wife were cousins. Their marriage was arranged by the two branches of the family in 1993.

After this he moved to Berlin with his wife. But according to information given by acquaintances, he never felt at home in Germany. He wanted to move back to Kaysery in Turkey at all costs. It is from the capital of the province of the same name in Cappadocia that his family came.

But his wife wanted to stay in Germany. Turna U. Grew up in Berlin, just as her children did, none of whom wanted to move from Germany. One day Attila U. allegedly asked his parents whether they would accept them in their home. But they accepted only on condition that the children too must move there. But this was emphatically rejected by Turna U. and the children.

Attila U. scraped by with a variety of jobs. He was mainly a cab driver, and he also lived on welfare payments. He was not unknown to the police. Last years he was sentenced for physical injury, among other charges, and fined.

He was also given an order of punishment for embezzlement. They would have had a fourth child three years ago, but this child died shortly before birth.

From that moment, it seems that their relationship began to get worse, and they began drifting apart from each other

Sympathy for extremists

In recent times, the (political) attitude of Attila U. began to turn more and more extreme. This is clearly evident among others on his martially-designed Facebook page. Among his likes there were the Grey Wolves [Turkish extreme right party] as well as the also extreme right “Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi”

His wife Turna was supposedly forced to behave as a “proud Turkish woman”, and Turna, who just two years ago still wore her hair uncovered in the street, had to hide it under a headscarf.

In spite of this they tried to appear as normal as possible in public. She brought the children every morning to school, and after that she used to buy some sesame rolls at the bakery located directly opposite their home. And she also often drank a coffee there. They were seen on Tuesday at around 19:00 in the supermarket. Three hours later, Turna was dead.

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