Four killed in Turkish family ‘fight over shed’

ISTANBUL: Four people have been killed and five wounded in a fight that erupted within the same family in the western Turkish region of Bolu over a woodshed between their houses, local officials and reports said on Sunday.

The dispute over the shed had long persisted between cousins Ayhan and Zeki Buyuktopac, who lived in two neighbouring houses in the usually placid Bolu region south of the Black Sea. When the row erupted again, Zeki Buyuktopac’s son Onur brought his gun and shot dead Ayhan Buyuktopac, his wife Emine, sister Zekiye and son Taksin, the Dogan news agency said.

Their nephew Soner was also badly wounded. Half a dozen other members of the family were also wounded by sticks used in the fight. The shootout was witnessed by a four-year-old relative who was not harmed. "We think this was caused by a land ownership dispute between the two sides of the family," said Bolu regional governor Aydin Barus, quoted by Dogan.

"This is not the kind of thing we expect in our part of the world and we have never seen anything like this," he said. "It’s inhuman to resort to such violence," he added, promising a full investigation. The gunman Onur Buyuktopac has been detained, Dogan said. Disputes in Turkey frequently flare up into violence, sometimes involving weapons, but it is extremely unusual for several people to be killed in a single argument within one family.