Özgür Gönül’s Father Seeks Exhumation: “The Body I Buried Was Not My Son’s”

According to the Özgür Gazete report, the body of university student Özgür Gönül, who lost his life in the FiloJet disaster, was recovered on October 4, 35 days after the incident. Following DNA testing on October 6, authorities announced that the body had been identified as Gönül’s.

His father, Gökmen Gönül, took delivery of the body and buried it in the Tarsus district of Mersin. He returned to the TRNC approximately one week after the funeral. Saying he had been unable to identify the body by its face during the handover, Gönül stated that although he had examined certain parts of the remains, his doubts had not been dispelled.

After returning to the TRNC, the father approached the police and requested to see photographs of the body said to belong to his son. Claiming that there were significant differences between the body shown in the photographs and the one he had buried, Gönül also raised the issue with the Turkish Embassy in Nicosia and the Prime Ministry.

Through the embassy, Gönül filed an application in Turkey for the exhumation of the body. Saying that the truth would emerge once the grave was opened, the father called for questions surrounding the identification and handover of the bodies to be resolved.