BİTLİS - Found dead in a forest area in Muğla five days after she was reported missing, university student Pınar Gültekin has been laid to rest in Bitlis province.
Murdered in Turkey's Aegean province of Muğla, Pınar Gültekin has been laid to rest in Hizan district of Turkey's eastern Bitlis province.
After the related procedures had been completed at Muğla Forensic Medicine Institution, the deceased body of Gültekin was taken by his family and relatives to Hizan to be laid to rest there.
As the funeral vehicle arrived in Hizan, women shouldered the coffin and carried it to the Hizan Bediüzzaman Ulu Mosque. Following funeral prayers, the body of Gültekin was taken to the graveyard in Gayda village.
The funeral of Pınar Gültekin was attended by her family and relatives as well as Hizan Mayor Cezail Aktaş, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Meral Danış-Beştaş, Hizan Sub-Governor Mustafa Köleoğlu and several citizens.
As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), father Sıdık Gültekin made the following statement after his daughter was laid to rest:
"The semester at the university was over and she was waiting for me. I was going to go and take her on Eid-al Adha, but I could not. I brought a piece of bone and buried it in the ground.
"These massacres must really end now. I don't want any more Pınars to die. My condolences to the whole Turkey.
"I want to thank the Muğla Gendarmerie Command, the law enforcement and the press who made efforts to find my daughter. But for them, my daughter could have perhaps not been found for 20-30 years.
"I am calling out to the whole Turkey from here: Enough is enough. Are we supposed to assign a guard to accompany every single girl student in Turkey? Cannot a girl student go and study in a province where she wants? It is an atrocity. I am at a loss for words, I really am.
"Even when I go the farthest end of the world, this is my hometown, this is my land. Those who you see here are my relatives. That is why I have brought my daughter here. I decided to lay her to rest here because it is my hometown.
"All that can be done for her is to pray. My daughter was unfortunately brutally murdered. I could not protect my daughter.
"I was planning to send her to the US or England as soon as she graduates. I will borrow money or something, but I will definitely send her. She had big goals. She would always say, 'Your sons are not likely to look after you, but I will care for you and mom for the rest of my life.'
"She was full of life. I made her drop out of school in the third year. She apparently talked to a friend of mine and complained about me. My friend came to me and said, 'If you do not let this girl study, our friendship will be over.' Then, I sent her to school."