01.06.2026 13:10
A 24-year-old intern lawyer with psychological problems, Berker Sağlam, who stabbed and killed his aunt, writer Ayten Öztürk, during a holiday visit in Kırklareli, confessed to the horror in his statement by claiming that his aunt put radioactive substances in his food, saying, "The sugar next to the water she brought me was the color of uranium. Voices in my head were saying 'This woman will kill you,' so I took the knife from the neighbor and attacked with rage."
In the Vize district of Kırklareli, a murder case on May 29 that plunged the cultural and artistic world into mourning, author Ayten Öztürk, has revealed shocking details. The suspect, Berker Sağlam, who brutally killed Öztürk with a knife at her family home during a holiday visit, was arrested and sent to prison by the court. The nephew's statement during the prosecution and court stages exposed the extent of the horror.
"VOICES WERE SPINNING IN MY HEAD"
Berker Sağlam, 24, stated that he was a trainee lawyer but could not pass the proficiency exams due to psychological issues, and claimed that his aunt sabotaged him through hospitals. Describing the day of the incident, the murder suspect made the following chilling allegations: "I think she put radioactive substances in my drink. I was sitting in the room upstairs. She brought me water. There was a candy next to the water, it had a color similar to uranium. We had a conversation; she talked about the favors she had done for me before and said things like 'you're like a beggar, a woman.' I stormed out in a rage. I had taken three pills before. A voice inside me said, 'This woman is going to kill me.'"
"I BELIEVED I WOULD DIE WITHIN A DAY OR TWO"
Sağlam, who said he used four different psychiatric medications and obtained them by having them prescribed under his mother's name, accused his aunt of adding prohibited substances to his food and continued his statement: "I decided to kill my aunt out of resentment. The reason was that my aunt was putting prohibited substances in my food. I believed I would die within a day or two. I only remember the shouting from the incident; I don't remember anything else. I don't remember how many times I stabbed my aunt."
HE TOOK THE KNIFE FROM A NEIGHBOR AND SPREAD TERROR
The murder suspect nephew, claiming that he did not plan the murder but committed it due to a sudden rage and the voices in his head, gave the following final words about the incident: "After she left the house, I drank alcohol. I took the knife from a neighbor living in a large garden white house above ours. I don't know the neighbor. A voice inside me said, 'This woman will kill you within a day or two,' those voices were constantly spinning in my head. I entered the garden with the knife, and then I remember running towards the outskirts of the village. I didn't take the knife with me when I fled the house. I didn't remember leaving the knife on the car, but they later found it on the car. I remember going into the kitchen and drinking water after the incident."
Berker Sağlam, who was quickly apprehended with the murder weapon thanks to the successful operation of the gendarmerie teams, was arrested and sent to prison by the judicial authorities on May 30. The course of the case will become clearer after criminal and psychiatric examinations.