06.11.2026 00:50
It has emerged that the attacker who fled to Eskişehir after killing 8 people in Afyonkarahisar threatened the 19-year-old driver whose vehicle he hijacked and the driver’s friend with him by saying, “I am a member of MİT.” The suspect, who checked the two young people’s IDs and searched their vehicle, then pointed his gun and took the car keys. Describing the moments of fear they experienced, the driver said, “If we had resisted, he might have shot my friend.”
In Afyonkarahisar, it has emerged that after the attacker who killed 8 people blocked 19-year-old driver Talha Gökgöz’s path with his vehicle in Eskişehir and seized his car, he threatened Gökgöz and his friend Kamil Çakmak by saying “I am a MİT member.”
DRIVER WHOSE VEHICLE WAS SEIZED AND HIS FRIEND DESCRIBED THE INCIDENT: HE SAID HE WAS FROM MİT
In a statement to journalists, driver Talha Gökgöz (19), whose vehicle with license plate 26 APL 557 was stopped by the suspect and seized at gunpoint at the Çatören Dam location on the Eskişehir Seyitgazi highway, said that after he and his friend completed their business at the military recruitment office in Eskişehir, they were on the road to return to their homes in Kırka Neighborhood of Seyitgazi district.
“HE POINTED THE GUN AT MY FRIEND”
Noting that they took a break with his friend somewhere near the dam, Gökgöz spoke as follows: “Just as we were about to leave, the man came. We stopped the car, he said he was from MİT. I didn’t believe that he was from MİT. At that moment he started searching the car. He talked like ‘Is there any drugs, is there this, is there that?’ He took our IDs, asked for our phones. He said, ‘Take out the SIM card.’ We said, ‘The SIM card doesn’t come out, it’s behind our phones.’ He made us put the phones on top of the car. After that he took the phones and threw them. He took a gun out of the car. He took out the gun, and when he loaded a bullet, I thought he would probably shoot us here now. We also thought he would take the car and leave. Then he pointed his gun at my friend. When he pointed the gun at my friend, I took out the keys and told him to get in quickly and leave.”
Stating that the suspect took the vehicle and left the area, Gökgöz said, “I immediately came down from the rocks and took the phones from below. I took the phones and called 112. There was no signal, I went a little higher. I called 112 and reported it. After that, Seyitgazi gendarmerie teams intervened in the incident. At the entrance, at the end of that road, they blocked the road. We met again right there. This time we went down to the gendarmerie teams. The person came out in front of us on the road at Sancar location. After that, we came to the gendarmerie in Seyitgazi.”
“HE WAS DRUNK ANYWAY, WE SAW ALCOHOL BOTTLES AND SO ON INSIDE”
Stating that they did not get into an argument with the suspect, Gökgöz said, “He was drunk anyway, we saw alcohol bottles and so on inside. I had no knowledge of the murders or anything. I said to myself, he will probably take the car. His eyes were on the car, I thought he would take the car and leave.”
Emphasizing that what they experienced was a frightening process, Gökgöz noted the following: “When he pointed the gun at my friend anyway, I gave him the keys so that nothing would happen to my friend’s life and so that the incident would not drag on too long. If we hadn’t given them, if we had resisted, he might have shot my friend. He was already ready. He had pulled the magazine, the bullet was in the gun. I would say ‘He did it to scare us,’ but he wouldn’t do it just to scare us. There is nothing in the vehicle. There is no visible damage outside. We couldn’t look at the interior design because of the mud. It was already stuck here. If the vehicle had gone, it would have gone further. Since it is electric, even if it hadn’t stayed here, it would have stopped further ahead. He got the car stuck here. When it got stuck, he continued on foot in the direction. They caught him somewhere around here. May God be pleased with them.”
“HE POINTED THE GUN AT ME”
Kamil Çakmak, 19, who was a passenger in the seized vehicle, also noted that the suspect came up to them in a black car. Explaining that the suspect asked questions, Çakmak continued as follows: “He said, ‘Is there a gun in your car?’ We said, ‘There is nothing, you can search.’ We hadn’t asked for his ID or anything. After that he searched the car. We had belongings in the back, he opened our belongings too. After that I got out of the car. I said I would look toward the man’s car. There was an alcohol bottle, and also a shotgun. I said, ‘If you are from MİT, how come there is an alcohol bottle in your car?’ When I said that, he grumbled something like ‘Don’t interfere too much, don’t poke around if you want.’ He pointed the gun at me. When my friend saw that this was happening, he immediately gave him the car keys.”