Istanbul police detains 8 over murder of elderly Armenian couple

PanARMENIAN.Net - Eight people have been arrested on charges of involvement in the murder of 85-year-old Hagop Demirci, Ermenihaber.am reports citing Turkish media.

According to some publications, the detainees were citizens of Armenia and Georgia.

An elderly Armenian couple - Seta Demirci, 79, and her husband Hagop - in Istanbul were victims of a home invasion robbery, but the manner in which they were found indicates that they were targeted because they were Armenian.

They were discovered in their apartment gagged and tied with a pig skin rope, an act usually “reserved for infidels,” as Armenians are often referred to in Turkey. Hagop Demirci was pronounced dead due to strangulation, while Seta Demirci was rushed to the hospital, Asbarez says, citing a report by the T24 news site, which covered the incident in Turkish.

The site reported that the couple’s housekeeper, knocking on the door and not receiving a response, alerted their nephew, who lives nearby, and who opened the apartment door to find the two bound and gagged and their valuables stolen. The couple’s apartment is located near Gezi Park in Istanbul.

Elderly Armenians have recently been a target of violence in Istanbul and the surrounding suburbs.