Georgian woman killed in Turkey

A Georgian woman and two others have been killed in Turkey in suspicious circumstances.

The bodies of three people – two women and one teenage boy – were found in a residential apartment in the city of Duzce in north-western Turkey yesterday.

Initially Turkish media reported all three victims were Georgian citizens however later it was revealed one of the woman had Georgian citizenship and the other woman had Turkish citizenship.

Police identified the victims as Ema Sharipova, 56, her sister Elnaz Sharipova, 46, and one of the ladies’ son or grandson Sahip Sharipov, 19.

Turkish officials said the victims had wounds on their throats, most probably caused by a knife or similar object.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed one of the killed women held Georgian citizenship however the other woman had applied for and received Turkish citizenship, and therefore her Georgian citizenship had been recently revoked.

The citizenship of the young man was not known yet.

Turkish police confirmed an investigation had been launched into the case.

The bodies were found by one of the women’s former husband. He visited the family home and found the door locked but lights on inside. After no answer he broke into the home and found the three bodies.

The deceased were initially from Georgia's southern Marneuli district. Their family in Georgia said the trio were in Turkey to find a job.

The teenage boy’s father told local news agency ipn.ge that his son worked at a shawarma food outlet.

He said the bodies had been taken to a morgue in Turkey and in the coming days they would be transported to Marneuli in Georgia.

The man did not know any further details of the case however he believed there were two possible scenarios that could have caused the deaths; that the trio died as a result of a natural gas leak or that they were murdered.