Search efforts to find missing woman restarted in Turkey’s east

ISTANBUL

Search efforts to find the body of a young woman who has been missing since Jan. 5 have restarted in the eastern province of Tunceli after a one-month break.

Some of the water in the Uzunçayır Dam was discharged around Dinar Bridge, where 21-year-old Gülistan Doku was last seen following an argument with her boyfriend.

Police and gendarmerie teams resumed their search work after the required level of water was withdrawn from the dam.

Police are also looking into the possibility of a suicide as the last footage that emerged showed Doku at the Sarısaltuk Viaduct over the dam.

But an expert report showed that there was no movement in the water under the viaduct that could indicate Doku committed suicide by throwing herself into the dam.

“The movement at the foot of the bridge is a pixel residue, which is definitely not a splash of water or of a person that fell into the water from above,” it said in the report.

The lawyers of Doku’s family said that the report firmly refuted claims that Gülistan committed suicide.

Women’s rights groups have called for scrutiny over a possible involvement of the ex-boyfriend, as Doku’s death came amid an unbridled record of femicides in Turkey.