Nizamettin Gursu Turkish man suspected of pushing girlfriend, Yesim Demir over a cliff after the woman allegedly refusing marriage proposal. Prosecutors introduce new evidence months after woman’s death.
Authorities arrested the boyfriend of a woman who fell 100 feet to her death during a clifftop marriage proposal in Turkey — following claims of a ‘violent struggle’ after the woman allegedly refusing her suitor’s offer wedding proposal.
Nizamettin Gursu was arrested five months after his 39-year-old girlfriend, Yesim Demir, plummeted off a cliff in Canakkale, a city in northwestern Turkey, on July 6, Turkish media reported Wednesday.
Gursu told authorities Demir had said “Yes” but as he was grabbing celebratory food and drinks from his car, he heard a scream — and returned to the romantic picnic site to find his bride-to-be had tumbled over the ledge.
Girlfriend’s family suspicions
But during their investigation, police discovered that the engagement ring Gursu claimed to have given Demir after she accepted his proposal was still in its box inside his pocket.
Their suspicions only grew after finding shattered glasses and a broken music speaker at the couple’s engagement spot, seeming to indicate a physical altercation.
The slain woman’s family also told authorities that she had been planning to end things with Gursu, and would not have accepted his marriage proposal.
Her family also claimed that Demir suffered from panic attacks and would never have willingly been so close to the edge of a cliff.
Growing rise of femicide in Turkey
Gursu’s arrest comes after Demir’s family filed a complaint against him.
At the time of her death, the ‘heartbroken fiancé’ told police that they had chosen to have their engagement on the spot because they thought it would be romantic.
‘We chose it to have a romantic memory after the proposal. We drank some alcohol. Everything happened at once. She lost her balance and fell down,’ Gursu previously told Turkish press.
Demir initially survived the 104-foot fall but later succumbed to her injuries.
Gursu was arrested on suspicion of deliberate homicide and remained held in custody, pending a trial.
Femicide — the gender-based killing of women — has been a growing problem in Turkey.
According to the Monument Counter, a digital memorial for women killed by violence, at least 380 women in Turkey have been killed by men so far this year, while 383 were killed by men last year.
