The tension between actress Farah Zeynep Abdullah and the family of Yılmaz Güney, known for his controversial events in the past, is growing rapidly. Abdullah had caused controversy with the phrase she used for Güney: “The woman-beating man of our cinema”.
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Yılmaz Güney's family responds to Farah Zeynep Abdullah's remarks
Yılmaz Güney's family reacted strongly against this statement and made a statement. In their statement, they emphasized that Abdullah and other people should refrain from statements that damage their reputation and stated that they would use their legal rights.
Farah Zeynep Abdullah responded to the Güney family by quoting a news report on her social media account. Abdullah expressed her reaction with the statement “No shooting the arrow judge, but”. While this post was supported by some users, it was criticized by others.
but don't shoot the arrow judge https://t.co/D2UQuXMLCu
- fafazey (@fzaofficial) September 14, 2023
Ilyas Salman's support for Farah Zeynep Abduulah
Ilyas Salman, one of the legendary actors of Turkish cinema, also made a statement drawing attention to this tension. Salman shared a post on his social media account and made statements supporting Abdullah's violent criticism of Yılmaz Güney.
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“Let's be honest, there is nothing to defend Yılmaz Güney's acts of violence,” Salman said in her statement, adding, “Our political views should not cover our understanding. Let's be different from the right-wingers who praise Haluk Kırcı.”.
Let's be honest, Yilmaz Güney's acts of violence are indefensible. Our political views should not obscure our understanding. Let us be different from the right-wingers who praise Haluk Kırcı. https://t.co/XnC9aOIaKf
- Ilyas Salman (@ilyassalmansm) September 14, 2023
“Back then we didn't know so much about their crimes”
While some of his followers reacted to İlyas Salman's post, some of his followers supported him.
One of his followers reacted to Salman by saying, “Aren't you the one who said in one of your poems, “Living is a folk song, like being born in Siverek and dying in Paris”... It didn't look good on you abi, we love you too, but no offense to Yılmaz”.
İlyas Salman, on the other hand, said to his follower, “We didn't know so much about his incidents back then. Besides, there is no such thing as “no words”. Everyone is criticized, including me.” he responded by saying.
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Yilmaz Güney's shooting of a judge
Years later, Ali İhsan Ökten wrote about Yılmaz Güney's shooting of Yumurtalık Judge Sefa Mutlu, based on the testimonies of witnesses:
Twenty-seven years ago, on an autumn night in Yumurtalık, Adana, the trigger of a pistol was pulled. It was Yılmaz Güney, the Ugly King of Turkish cinema, whom even the prosecutor who arrested him said, “He was not a lumpen, he was a gentleman.”.
On Thursday, September 5, 1974, Yılmaz Güney and his crew travel to Yumurtalık district of Adana to shoot the film “Worry”, which he had written and starred in, about the lives and problems of cotton workers. An agreement was made for the crew to stay for a while at the Municipality Beach Motel, a hotel on top and a restaurant below, run by Sait Erbaş and Ali Orhan on the seaside because it was close to where some of the scenes were shot.
After returning from filming, Yılmaz Güney and some of his friends, acquaintances and film workers went to a restaurant on Friday evening, September 13, 1974, to have dinner and chat. Yılmaz Güney was sitting at the same table with his wife Fatma Pütün, Adana Mayor Ege Bagatur, teacher Murteza Timur, Ali Özgentürk and Şerif Gören. Since the motel was by the sea, there were also people who came for vacation or to have dinner. Sefa Mutlu, the judge of Yumurtalık district, and his wife Nuran Mutlu were among those having dinner with their guests at the next table. During the conversation between Yılmaz Güney and his friends, there was talk of getting more gunfire on the tape recorder for the soundtrack of the movie.
Because for the first time in Turkish Cinema, a movie was being shot with sound. After a while, the Judge Sefa Mutlu and Yılmaz Güney start to exchange taunts. A single bullet from the barrel of a 14-round pistol ends the life of Yumurtalık Judge Sefa Mutlu and sends the Ugly King to prison with an unnecessary increase in his sentence due to mistakes in his defense. Thus, unhappy and painful days begin.
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19 Years Imprisonment
On Tuesday, July 13, 1976, the Ankara 1st High Criminal Court sentenced Yılmaz Güney to 19 years in prison in accordance with Article 448 of the Turkish Penal Code and Article 13 of Law No. 6136.
The Yumurtalık incident... A bitter, black, undesirable day and situation, an ominous curse that descended on a great artist, not for Yılmaz Güney's personal life, but for Turkish cinema, Turkish society and, even more so, for world cinema... A horrible incident caused out of nowhere by drinking, alcohol, traditional bullying, honor that was supposed to be protected, feudal behavior that was supposed to be followed... A judge who was shot and went away, and a great talent who was imprisoned again, and who was kept away from the act of creation in his most productive age... Defense mistakes added on top of these... And a 19-year heavy prison sentence that he should not normally have received... Here is “Yılmaz Güney and the Yumurtalık Incident”; a life story through the eyes of those who lived it, without adding any commentary on it.
Mehmet Uyarhas
(Monopoly Dealer)
Yılmaz Güney and his crew were shooting on Abdülrezzak Aga's farm, resting and sleeping at the motel... I was running a liquor store... At the time, the motel was run by Sait Aga from Antep... One day Yılmaz Güney's son threw a stone at a boy. He advised his son, “Son, don't despise people, try to love them.”.
He was making a movie to express the difficulties of the laborers from the east during the cotton season... We used to sell 300 raki to those who came to see Yılmaz Güney, when we couldn't sell 5-10 raki in a day...
Buy 40-50 gallons of raki
On the day of the incident, Sait Aga phoned me and said, “Mehmet, if you can find a car, come and buy 40 or 50 rakı.” So I found one and went. There was a large group at Yılmaz Güney's table. Yılmaz Güney was having dinner with the actors in the movie and his close friends. The mayor of Adana at the time, Ege Bagatur, his wife Fatoş, and his son Yılmaz were with him. I was sitting next to the casino operator and the conversation turned to movie work. At that moment, the judge, his wife and the prosecutor's brother sat next to Yılmaz Güney in the corner, out of all the tables...
Send Antepli Whiskey
The prosecutor said, “Send whiskey from Antep!” ”Send me pistachios from Antep!” said the judge... At one point, Güney said to the people sitting at the table: “The sound of the gun was not recorded well on the movie set. Would it sound good if I shoot here?” he asked. Ege Bagatur, who was sitting next to him, said, “For God's sake, Yılmaz, don't. This is a small place, don't make me face to face with the officers here, come and shoot rockets in Adana if you want. But don't put me in a difficult situation here.”.
If He's the Ugly King, I'm the Ovarian King
His brother next to the judge called out, ”The Ugly King will shoot!” The judge stood up; “If he is the Ugly King, I am the king of Yumurtalık, if he shoots, we will arrest him”. It was obvious from his behavior that the judge had drunk a lot of alcohol. At the same moment Yılmaz Güney fired three shots into the air in quick succession.” Come here! Arrest him.” he shot back.
Hakim got very angry and came to Güney and swore at him. In the meantime, the casino operator and his staff intervened and took Hakim Mutlu out of the casino and down to the beach. As the judge was leaving, he was swearing, ”I'll make the son... of the man who fired a gun!”... They moved him about 150 meters away. Yılmaz Güney was very angry and shaking.
Just as things were calming down, Sefa Mutlu came running and grabbed an iron chair and swung it at Yılmaz Güney. At the same moment Yılmaz Güney pointed his pistol at Sefa Mutlu and squeezed the trigger. He fired a single bullet. In through the pupil, out the back. The judge was shot in the forehead and collapsed on the ground... He could have left, he could have run away, he didn't...
Alcohol to blame
“Did Yılmaz Güney hit the left-right cause?” journalists asked. I said, ”Alcohol is to blame”... I wish Yılmaz Güney and Sefa Mutlu had not drunk so much alcohol. It was a pity for both of them.
At that time there was no police around here, the gendarmerie was looking after him... He didn't run away after the shooting... I was also running a café at the time... People came from Diyarbakır, Ankara, Istanbul, Erzurum... He was educating 400 students at the university... People waited around the police station for 3 days... He was one of the best movie artists of all time... He was one of the people who introduced our country to the world...
Hüseyin Erden
(Casino Operator in Yumurtalık)
At that time we had a movie theater and we were playing movies... That day they called my father from the beach, I was 16 or 17 years old,” You go!” The workers, the set workers were sitting... The sheep had been slaughtered, the food had been eaten, he had welcomed everyone... He had gotten permission from the gendarmerie to fire three shots, and there was a recording device on the table. The judge, his wife, his daughter, his sister, came staggering up the stairs; “You can't shoot,” he said. They took him away, he came back, he said something to Yılmaz Güney, I wasn't nearby... They didn't take the right people to testify... They slandered him and testified against him... If Yılmaz Güney had wanted to, he wouldn't have waited here for 4 hours for the gendarmerie. The Antakya gate was 2 hours away, he could have escaped if he wanted to...Now he is in the good world... As Yumurtalık, we loved Yılmaz Güney very much...
Muarrem Kilic
(Butcher Cici)
I knew him from his movies, I was a fan... Mehmet Eken, the farm owner, who was his cousin, said to me, “You have a fan, he's coming.” The work was over, it was evening, they were sitting, and as soon as he saw me, he stood up... He asked me, “What do you drink?” I said, “Seeing you made me feel like I was drinking”...
Filmmaker Hüseyin said, “Yılmaz Abi, Turkish cinema is dead now that television has come out.” He replied, “Now everyone will show their strength.” I will make a sound movie for the first time. The workers picking cotton and the bullets of the gun will be real.”
I was away the day it happened. I heard gunshots, I thought they were shooting a movie, we went down to the beach and saw the judge on the ground, there were so many people, how come they didn't separate them! Everyone says they were in the restroom...
He was going to redo the gun scene he was going to shoot in the movie, the judge got angry when he heard this... They separated, then the judge came back with an iron chair in his hand... When he tried to shoot him, he fired the gun, the word of molesting his wife is spinning, it is very illogical, there is no such thing... I said this in court...
I took food to the prison, I made him a pan; he said he didn't feel like it, he wouldn't eat anyone else's food but Cici the butcher's... When I went to Ankara for the trial, they were shouting “Freedom for Yılmaz!”, it was very crowded...
Yücel Kumburlu
(Dad's Place Fish Restaurant)
Yılmaz Güney started filming “Worry”, the first movie to be shot with sound in Turkey, in Yumurtalık. I was around 13 years old then... Half of the crew settled in the Plaj Motel in Yumurtalık. The motel was opposite the current BTC Hotel. He would go to shoot in the morning and come back in the afternoon, he would also drink alcohol, there would be a glass of raki on his table. He had a gray beard and gray hair... What I heard about the incident was that Sefa Mutlu verbally harassed Ms. Fatoş, Yılmaz Güney's wife...
After those incidents, I don't forget he had a dark blue Mercedes, he got in the car, passed by me, went to the gendarmerie and surrendered...
I don't think it was because of the sound recording, would anyone take a life for a sound recording?
I'm the king of this place... We were sitting on the pile with his nephew Abdullah Pütün. I'll never forget, he was tall and thin, he was wearing a black shalwar and a yellow shirt... He got up and entered the police station: “I killed him.”.
Yılmaz Güney had many fans, he loved this place, I think if this incident had not happened, this place would have overtaken Bodrum and Antalya...There was love and respect for people...
They stayed there for about two months. If you put a gun in the hands of any of the people there, he would say, “I shot him!”... This incident made him another Yılmaz Güney...
Lawyer Yalçın Öğütcan
(then Yumurtalık Deputy Prosecutor)
In 1974, after completing my internship as a judge in Adana, I was assigned as an assistant public prosecutor in Yumurtalık by the Ministry of Justice. The judge of Yumurtalık at that time was Sefa Mutlu. In the evenings, we would have dinner at the Beach Casino, which was a unique place... It was run by someone from Gaziantep, it was a casino on the beach, it was a motel at the same time...
In the meantime, Yılmaz Güney came to shoot the movie “Worry” with his crew, and they would gather around a long table at the beach casino. Yılmaz Güney was a very respectful person. He used to compliment me because I was from Adana, and then we became friends... He used to call me “my fellow countryman”...
Although I was more of a center-right person at that time, he liked to sit and talk with me. Our dialog progressed, of course... Various people would come from Adana; Ege Bagatur was the mayor at the time, he would sit at the table with them and chat, he was very affectionate, he cared a lot about people...
Maybe it wouldn't have been me
On the day of the incident... I was in Ceyhan. I said I would stop by the Merchant Club and come back, if I hadn't gone there, I would have been at the scene... Maybe I could have intervened; such an incident might not have happened. Because the judge was also my colleague. Yılmaz Güney was the most popular man of art at that time.
It was Saturday night, the crew was sitting around again, and Yılmaz Güney said, “We got the sound of a bullet in the movie, but it's not enough,” and fired his pistol towards the sea, saying, “That's how it should sound.” That's when Sefa Mutlu stood up and said, “Who is this man? There is no prosecutor, I'm in charge.” and walked towards Yılmaz Güney, and of course there was alcohol involved...
Verbal and Actual Defamation
He is recorded as a forensic case with a gun in his hand. The judge walks towards him first with a chair in his hand... Of course, there is also verbal abuse; “Are you the king of this place or am I?”, these are situations that arise as a result of a forensic case...
There was talk of verbal abuse about his wife, but there was nothing like that. Yılmaz Güney had abrasions on his hand and arm. In Yılmaz Güney's first defense, he was quoted as saying, “A single gun goes off and the bullet hits the judge in the head.”.
By the time I arrived, everyone was running away, by the time I arrived, the incident had already happened. You look at who shot him; you look at the colleague. I first tried to get him to a health institution, I hugged the judge, took him in my arms, got into a taxi and said, “Take Yılmaz Güney into custody, I'm on my way.” I brought him to Adana Numune Hospital in my arms.... The chief prosecutor at the time was Alp Tekin Özhan. I called him immediately, he came and saw me and the judge was taken into surgery. He said, “Go home, change your clothes, go back to Yumurtalık...”
“I didn't do it”
Yılmaz Güney, Fatoş Güney were all sitting at the police station. Of course, we saw each other and looked at each other; friends we had always talked to, friends we were friends with... I was also very happy to chat with the famous person, we exchanged glances, he told me, “I'm a humanist, I didn't do it.”.
I didn't say anything, there was phone traffic until late into the night.
There is an article in the law on judges that says that if a judge dies, the public prosecutor can decide on it. Not one of his deputies... One of the provincial prosecutors does the investigation. I only took security measures.
There was no one to call, I reported it, they told me to wait. A public prosecutor named Cengiz Ataç was appointed and I was his deputy...
“I did it”
While I was sitting in the room, a man came in, carrying a gun: “I was the one who committed the murder in Yumurtalık in the evening, I hand over the gun, I am Abdullah Pütün. I shot the judge, he insulted me.” Of course, he was immediately taken into custody, the table was set, whoever was sitting there was identified, and they were listened to one by one. After that, Abdullah Pütün and I went to the scene of the incident, Abdullah Pütün was asked, “Where were you sitting?” He couldn't find where he was sitting. He pointed somewhere, but it was somewhere else... Meanwhile, many witnesses, including those from Adana, said, “I was in the restroom at the time.”...
Abdullah Pütün's statement that he shot the judge changed the investigation... If Yılmaz Güney had said at the beginning of his defense: “I had a gun in my hand, the judge came, hit me with a chair, I involuntarily shot the other person.” If he had preferred this form of defense, there would have been a different result. But it's too bad that they claimed that Abdullah Pütün shot him, that he was never present in the incident...
I took Yılmaz Güney's case to the heavy penalty...
Yılmaz Güney was very sad, of course; he was a humanitarian, he didn't want this outcome. He was saying, “This should not have happened!”
Yfalse defense
There was misdirection, it was stated in the indictment that Abdullah Pütün committed the crime of misleading and Yılmaz Güney was the perpetrator of the crime...
In my opinion, because of the wrong defense strategy, the maximum penalty was given at that time...Fate made us prosecutors there...
Considering the way the incident occurred and the accounts of the witness statements, it is more likely that Yılmaz Güney's act did not constitute “intentional homicide” but “manslaughter in excess of intent”. And the penalty for this crime was only 8 years at the time. Therefore, instead of coming up with various scenarios, it was possible for Yılmaz Güney to confess to the murder and to benefit from any kind of discount that the law would have granted him with his defense that the act was the result of provocation and was not based on an intent to kill. However, the defense, which preferred to mislead the court, prevented him from benefiting sufficiently from both the unjust provocation and the reduction of the sentence. Thus, these mistakes were the beginning of many events that turned Yılmaz Güney's life into a tragedy.