Five days after the murder of seven members of the Dedeoğulları Kurdish family in Konya, the main perpetrator Mehmet Altun has been caught today. According to the Konya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announcement on Wednesday afternoon, Altun had been hiding in Bozkır district on a plot of land in the Üçpınarlar neighborhood. Police, gendarmerie and special forces were involved in the operation that led to the man's arrest, the statement said and noted that the questioning of Altun was continuing.

Mehmet Altun, a 33-year-old Turk, had shot dead Yaşar Dedeoğulları (65), Serap Dedeoğulları (36), Serpil Dedeoğulları (32), Sibel Dedeoğulları (30), İpek Dedeoğulları (57), Metin Dedeoğulları (45) and Barış Dedeoğulları (35) at their home in Meram district of Konya on Friday last week. Before fleeing the scene, he poured gasoline in five rooms and set fire to the residential building.

In connection with the murder, arrest warrants for premeditated murder were issued on Tuesday against 10 of 14 arrestees. Among those arrested are Mehmet Altun's parents, wife and sister. Altun's sister Ayşe Keleş had been briefly detained after the May 12 attack on the Dedeoğulları family.

Lawyer: massacre planned in WhatsApp group

As expressed by lawyer Abdurrahman Karabulut, the massacre of the Dedeoğulları family was allegedly planned in a WhatsApp group. Karabulut had already stated shortly after the seven-fold murder that it was a planned and organized attack. On Twitter today, the lawyer wrote that the perpetrator had not been alone and that it had since emerged that his relatives had formed a WhatsApp group after the previous lynching attempt in May and planned the massacre in an organized manner.