For the first time in 177 years, the Turkish National Police solved all homicide cases in 2021. The impressive record belongs to the Public Order Department of Police, which Homicide Departments across the country answer.
A total of 1,487 cases involving deliberate manslaughter were solved in the country, including 296 in Istanbul, 92 in the capital Ankara, 92 in Izmir, 82 in Adana, 54 in Gaziantep, 51 in Bursa and 50 in Diyarbakır. Separately, the police also solved 143 cases from previous years in 2021.
Unsolved murders have long been a thorny issue for Turkey in the past where high-profile names, from activists to writers, fell victim to murders blamed on the so-called “deep state.” Upgrading its forensics technology, the homicide police uses the services of crime scene investigation teams which were officially established in 1996 as a separate unit after serving as “technical personnel” assisting the officers for years.
Fatih Sevgen, head of the Central Department of Public Order Directorate of the police, told the Sabah newspaper on Monday that they caught 3,820 suspects in all cases and 2,167 among them were remanded in custody. He also said that their operations led to the confiscation of 473 pistols, 176 rifles and other objects used in crimes. Sevgen said the police personnel regularly undergo training to stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the field. “We have new technologies and software, such as facial recognition to assist in the investigations and a fully integrated fingerprint database system available to all units,” he said.