Fiancee says Armenian soldier’s death suspicious

27 April 2011, Wednesday / TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL Melani Kumruyan The tragic death of an Armenian Turkish private serving in the military on April 24 -- the day the Armenian diaspora marks as the anniversary of Armenians being killed at the hand of Ottomans in 1915 -- could not have been an accident, as was officially claimed, the young man's fiancée has said. Pvt. Sevag Şahin Balıkçı (25) died on Sunday when, according to official reports, his friend's rifle accidentally discharged. The military said the two boys were “joking around” with their rifles before the accident. Balıkçı's family said they believed the official statement, saying it was only a strange coincidence that their son died on April 24, which was also Easter Sunday. However, his fiancée, Melani Kumruyan, does not believe that Balıkçı's death was accidental. In statements made to various Turkish newspapers yesterday, she said: “An investigation into this is under way. I want the truth to come out as soon as possible. I don't think it happened when they were joking around. I knew Sevag really well. He was not someone who would joke around with guns.” Kumruyan and Balıkçı, who both lived in the Kurtuluş neighborhood of İstanbul, met when they were 17 and got engaged with the blessing of both families two years ago. Kumruyan says Balıkçı sent her a text message every morning. She shared his last message with the Radikal daily, sent at 7:30 a.m. on April 24. The intimate message says, “Parluys (Good Morning) my daisy-smelling angel. You never left me alone. Your clean heart is more important to me than anything else. I found happiness and love in you. I've never loved anything in my life as much as I love you.” “They say it happened around 8 a.m. I woke up around 9 that morning. He had sent me wonderful messages of love around 7:30, like he always does. I can't express the immenseness of the pain. There were only three weeks left for him to come home,” Kumruyan continued. The Sabah daily quoted her as saying: “I don't believe that it was an accident at all. The senior sergeant had beaten him up over a lost 50 lira bill.” Although Kumruyan is skeptical, Balıkçı's mother, Ani Balıkçı, a retired pre-school teacher, says she believes the military's statement. “We don't know yet whether it was an accident or not. We will go to the scene of the event on Sunday with our lawyer and talk to the officials there. The report we'll get will clarify everything. I am reading various statements on the Internet from people who are discussing the incident, whether they know about it or not. The private who shot my son was his closest friend. I'd sent Easter cookies to the unit one day before. The incident doesn't have anything to do with April 24 or genocide. I am not afraid of anything. I lost my son, what can I be afraid of? The commanders and majors also visited our house. They are as devastated as we are,” she said. The Gendarmerie General Command has announced that they invited the Balıkçı family to the outpost where the shooting happened. The family will be guests at the outpost during the examination of the site. Meanwhile, the Kozluk Criminal Court of Peace released the private who shot Balıkçı pending trial. The court said it didn't see any premeditation or deliberate act in the accident. However, the Kozluk Prosecutor's Office has criticized the release of the private -- whose name was not disclosed -- and filed for his arrest.