Police have arrested the partner of a woman who plunged 100ft to her death after they found ‘signs of a serious argument’ at the clifftop sunset spot where they were meant to be celebrating their proposal.
Yesim Demir was on holiday with her boyfriend Nizamettin Gursu at Polente Cape in Canakkale, north-western Turkey, when they went for a picnic the day after he proposed to her.
She plummeted 104ft (32m) and reportedly survived the plunge on the night of July 6, but died of her injuries in the early hours of the next day, despite medics – who her fiance had called – attempting to revive her for 45 minutes.
Gursu told local media at the time: ‘We chose the cliffs to have a romantic memory after the proposal. We drank some alcohol. Everything happened at once. She lost her balance and fell down.’
He has now been arrested after her family filed a criminal complaint, Turkish media reports, claiming that the pair had a fight after she rejected his proposal and that her engagement ring was found in his pocket rather than on her finger.
Yesim Demir (pictured, left) with her boyfriend Nizamettin Gursu (pictured, right), undated
Gursu, 42, took his girlfriend to the clifftop with a picnic basket and music box as well as alcohol to celebrate after she accepted his proposal earlier in their holiday
Gursu, 42, took his girlfriend to the clifftop with a picnic basket and music box as well as alcohol to celebrate after she accepted his proposal earlier in their holiday.
He told cops that they had been happily drinking when he went to the car to get more supplies.
He said he heard a scream and then discovered, to his horror, that she had vanished, accidentally falling off the cliff.
But the woman’s family complained that she had been planning to break up with him, and would not have accepted the proposal.
Police found broken glasses and a broken speaker, signs of a violent struggle, at the scene.
Police found broken glasses and a broken speaker, signs of a violent struggle, at the scene.
Police have reportedly now arrested Gursu on suspicion of ‘deliberate homicide’.
The family also provided further grounds for suspicion by saying that graphic designer Yesim suffered from panic attacks and would never have been so close to a cliff edge voluntarily.
Gursu is being held in custody pending trial.
Femicide is a growing problem in Turkey, particularly after the country officially quit the Istanbul Convention in July 2021.
According to data from the ‘Monument Counter’, which is ‘a digital memorial for women killed by violence’ and is updated daily, 393 women were killed by men in 2022, while 376 femicides have taken place in Turkey so far this year.