15.11.2025 13:11
The Böcek family, who came to Istanbul for a vacation, was hospitalized due to suspected food poisoning after eating mussels, sausage, kokoreç, and chicken tantuni. The mother and two children from the family lost their lives, while the father is receiving treatment in intensive care. Due to the inability to make a definitive determination regarding poisoning based on initial findings, the chief prosecutor's office has ordered a criminal investigation into the possibility of murder or suicide.
After eating mussels, sucuk, kokoreç, and chicken tantuni in Fatih, Istanbul, the family was taken to the hospital with suspected poisoning while at the hotel. The children, Kadir Muhammet Böcek (6) and Masal Böcek (3), and their mother, Çiğdem Böcek (27), lost their lives, while the father, Servet Böcek (36), is still receiving treatment in intensive care. Due to the inability to make a clear determination of what could have caused the poisoning based on initial findings, the chief prosecutor's office has deepened the investigation.
FATHER'S TREATMENT CONTINUES The incident occurred on November 12 at a hotel in Fatih. According to the information obtained, Servet and Çiğdem Böcek, who came to Istanbul from Germany, began their stay at a hotel in Fatih with their children, Kadir Muhammet and Masal. In the early hours of the night, mother Çiğdem Böcek found her 3-year-old daughter Masal motionless. Upon notification, health and police teams were dispatched to the hotel. Despite all interventions, the children, Masal Böcek and her brother Kadir Muhammet, could not be saved. The mother, Çiğdem Böcek, also passed away early yesterday morning. It was reported that father Servet Böcek is still receiving treatment in intensive care.
THEY ATE MUSSELS, SUCUK, AND KOKOREÇ According to allegations, the family left the hotel at 10:08 AM on November 11 and ate mussels from a street vendor in Ortaköy around 2:20 PM the same day. Twenty minutes later, they had soup, sucuk, kokoreç, and chicken tantuni at another establishment. After leaving the establishment at 5:17 PM, the family bought lokum from another place at 6:30 PM and returned to the hotel by taxi, checking in again at 6:43 PM.
THEY WERE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL WITH HIGH FEVER AND VOMITING COMPLAINTS The family, who fell ill, left the hotel at 11:42 AM on November 12 and went to Bezmiâlem Vakıf University Hospital with complaints of vomiting. Treatment was administered to the parents here. The children were treated at Çapa Medical Faculty Hospital. After receiving serum treatment, the family was discharged and checked back into the hotel at 3:40 PM, not leaving again. The mother, Çiğdem Böcek, called the emergency services at 2:20 AM on November 13 from the hotel lobby stairs. An ambulance arrived at the hotel 8 minutes later, and the family was transferred to the hospital at 3:00 AM. The Böcek couple's children, Kadir and Masal, who were taken to the hospital with high fever and vomiting complaints, could not be saved. The intubated mother, Çiğdem Böcek, also passed away early yesterday morning.
FATHER GAVE A STATEMENT BEFORE BEING INTUBATED The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the incident. It was determined where and what the Böcek family ate after arriving in Turkey. Police teams examined the camera footage from the mosque in Ortaköy and the street vendors' street one by one. Servet Böcek, who gave a statement to the police before being intubated, explained that they bought mussels from a street vendor next to Ortaköy Mosque and then ate kokoreç at a place on the street where the kumpircis are located.
CAUSE OF DEATH NOT DETERMINED The autopsy of the mother and two children has been completed. It was learned that no conclusion could be reached regarding the causes of death. The autopsy revealed no traumatic findings that would cause death, except for ulcerated areas and widespread bleeding in the stomach walls of the mother and children. The causes of death will be confirmed through the analysis of microbiological and toxicological samples taken from all three.
MURDER BUREAU HAS BEEN INSTRUCTED Due to the inability to make a clear determination of what could have caused the poisoning based on initial findings, the chief prosecutor's office has deepened the investigation and considered the possibility of external intervention in the deaths. According to a report by Sabah, a criminal investigation order for murder and suicide has been issued to the Gayrettepe Murder Bureau regarding the incident, which is recorded as a "suspicious death."
4 SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY In the investigation related to the incident, the restaurant where the family allegedly ate was sealed, and actions were taken against three establishments from which they purchased food. Four people, including street mussel seller Yusuf D., Ercan E., the owner of the sealed restaurant in Ortaköy, and Fatih T., from whom lokum was purchased in Beyazıt, were taken into custody. The security camera footage from the hotel where the family stayed is also under examination.
"MAY NO ONE ELSE SUFFER" After the procedures at the Forensic Medicine Institution, the bodies were handed over to the family at the Küçükçekmece Funeral Home. Mustafa Çelik, the father of the deceased Çiğdem Böcek, stated that the children came to Istanbul for vacation and reacted to the events. Çelik said, "Our children came here on November 9, they were going to have a one-week vacation. After that, they were going to visit us. They are having a 2-day vacation here, and then the poisoning incident occurs. They have been poisoned somehow, but more importantly, we are complaining about the hospital. The children come in, and they say, 'You are not very ill, it is due to the change of weather since you came from abroad,' and they send them back. They give them sublingual medication or put them on serum. We especially want the Ministry of Health to take care of this hospital; we are complaining about this hospital. Yesterday, we sent off the bodies of two of our grandchildren, and today we sent off their mother. Their father's condition is also very critical right now. The man from the place where they ate has 11-12 criminal records, as everyone knows. How is this man serving food to the public? That is also a mystery. These need to be investigated; our hearts are broken, may no one else suffer," he said.
SHE SHED TEARS Tansu Özsoy, the sister of the deceased Çiğdem Böcek, said, "How can they discharge them from the hospital without looking at anything? They have nausea; how can there be no blood tests? How can their stomachs not be washed? If their stomachs had been washed at that moment, they would not be in this condition today.
They caused a family to be devastated. I request the authorities and our president to investigate this hospital and pursue it. These matters need to be investigated, and they must receive the necessary punishment. This is not normal; people cannot be sent home saying 'there's nothing wrong.' All the doctors said that this is beyond food poisoning and has affected the entire body because they were not treated in time. Two children, their mother, their father... Is human life so cheap in this country, so worthless for these people? The authorities should pursue this. They went, will no one stand by them? These hospitals should be monitored. How can they send these people away? Who will account for the two tiny children, for my very young brother? Our hearts are broken; who will take responsibility for this? My nieces, my sister. We lost them all. My sister's husband is intubated; we are waiting for news at any moment," she expressed.