Prosecutors seek lifetime imprisonment for the parents and 20 years in prison for the uncle of Aynur Tunçdede who was murdered 22 years ago, and whose remains were found in a box at the family's home. Tunçdede was apparently a victim of an "honor killing" as the indictment points to the parent's disapproval of the newly-divorced woman's lifestyle. The 23-year-old woman was strangled to death by her uncle İbrahim Halil Akın in 1995 in the western city of İzmir. The murder was discovered last September when police searched the home of 76-year-old Ferzande and 67-year-old Mevlüde Tunçdede after an anonymous tip that the family might have had a role in the disappearance of Aynur. Human bones were found in a box in a shed of the family's house in the Menemen district of İzmir. The father, mother and mother's brother Akın were detained and later confessed to the murder. Prosecutors say Akın took his nephew to a forest where they drank together and when the young woman was defenseless, he strangled her. They claim the uncle was persuaded by the parents to kill her. "They were cold-blooded and hid the crime by moving her remains around when they moved out of their old house," the indictment says. The indictment also includes testimony of the father and mother. The father told interrogators he did not tell the police that his brother-in-law killed his daughter "to prevent a blood feud" between the family and relatives. Mevlüde Tunçdede told interrogators she learned about the murder when her brother arrived home and told her he had strangled her. "I don't know how I did it. She did not resist. I wouldn't have done it if she told me to stop," Mevlüde Tunçdede related her conversation with her brother immediately after the murder.
